PRAYER - "Praying in the Spirit"
I was called to pray for a lady who had been bedfast for weeks, with both legs entirely covered with agonizing shingles. Two sisters attended her day and night. I went in, anointed her with oil, laid my hand on her head, and began praying. I prayed in the Spirit for several minutes. First thing next morning her sisters called to say, "We have been up all night watching these scabs fall off her legs!" God healed her completely overnight.
James 5:14 - "...pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord."
PRINCIPALS - "Hagar the Egyptian"
Some people argue that Arabs are not Ishmael's true descendants because Hagar was a black Egyptian, given to Abraham by Pharaoh. That argument won't stand, since his father was the first Jew. But Mohammed corrupted the story of Ishmael, claiming he and Abraham built the Kaaba, in Mecca. The whole proposition is preposterous. For centuries, it was a pagan temple of idols. Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael AWAY to Paran, a wilderness site (where Moses and Israel later camped) - NOT to Mecca.
Genesis 16:1 - "...she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar."
PRINCIPLES - "Unworthy Comparison"
Our present sufferings do not compare to the glories we will discover if we are faithful to God. What an infinitesimal speck our labors are, compared to the eternal joys and wonders our Creator has planned. "It will be worth it all," must be the biggest understatement of all time. What is sickness, disease, heartache, poverty or death compared to the eternal glories of God's heaven?
Romans 8:18 - "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."
PROPHECIES - "Ishmael's Circumcision"
Even though Abraham circumcised Ishmael when the boy was thirteen years old, Ishmael's descendants do not practice circumcision as a matter of their religious faith today. The Koran, which purports to be the religion of the Ishmaelites, does not teach circumcision. Only a small portion of Muslims practice circumcision. This is one of the best evidences they are not the true heirs of Abraham. Messiah had to be circumcised to inherit the covenant.
Genesis 17:11 - "...ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you."
Obedience: No Small Thing
But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.
– Luke 6:49
Do you ever have seasons in your life when it seems like every time you go to church and every time you spend time in prayer and every time you open the Bible, you receive a revelation from God? I do. Spiritually, everything will be going great. I’ll be higher than a Georgia pine. Then, suddenly, something starts to happen. I start drying up in spiritual things.
It seems like it doesn’t make any difference what I pray or how much I read the Word, I can’t get anywhere spiritually. I’m so dry my spirit’s creaking!
That used to baffle me. I didn’t know what the cause was. I didn’t have any sin in my life. I’d taken care of that. I was still praying. Still meditating. Still acting on and confessing the Word. But instead of getting results, I was getting nowhere. I’d stand in front of my mirror and confess faith over and over again and the only thing that happened was that my voice got tired!
If that’s ever happened to you, may I make a suggestion? Backtrack and find the last thing God told you to do that you didn’t do—and do it!
It’s probably nothing big. Just a seemingly small thing. But, believe me, those minor disobediences will dry up the flow of the Spirit just like the major ones will.
Most of us don’t realize that. We’ll get on our knees and say, “Oh Lord, I want to go to China for You. I’ll go to Africa. I’ll go to Russia.” But when God says, Go next door, we just shrug it off.
“I can’t do that,” we’ll say. “That guy next door doesn’t like me. Besides, I want to be like Brother Gerald Hicks and get a big tent.”
If you’ve done something like that, repent. Then pick up where you left off and do what God directed. And from now on, remember, no matter how insignificant God’s instructions may seem, obeying them is no small thing! It’s those simple acts of obedience that will make your spiritual house stand...or fall. All the small things combined become the direction of our lives.
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