Humility Before God and The Power of Fasting and Prayer

Today, on Karl and Crew, we continued our weekly theme of “Freedom” with a discussion about how, when you have humility before God, you make room for His power in your situation. We turned to 1 Peter 5:5-6, where this is affirmed, as it talks about clothing ourselves with humility before God, casting all our cares upon Him, because He cares for us. We then turned to phone lines to hear from our listeners as we asked them, “How did humility before God get you unstuck or lift you above your own efforts?” We also had Dr. Ronnie Floyd join us to discuss the importance of meeting God in the secret place through fasting and prayer. Dr. Ronnie Floyd is a speaker, author, and encourager dedicated to helping others, committed to the next generation, and empowering leaders. He is also the host of the weekly podcast, For Leaders Podcast with Ronnie Floyd. He has written several books, including “The Supernatural Power of Prayer and Fasting.” Then Chris Fabry joined us to discuss the importance of humility in daily life. Chris is an award-winning author and radio personality. He is the host of “Chris Fabry Live” and the cohost of “Building Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman.” He has also published more than 80 books, including “War Room.” You can hear the highlights of today's program on the Karl and Crew Showcast.

If you're looking to hear a particular segment from the show, look at the following time stamps:

Karl’s Alaska story (The Tide) [09:57-16:32]

Listener Stories (Humility Before God) [ 21:55- 27:02]

Dr. Ronnie Floyd Interview (Prayer and Fasting) [27:06-44:04 ]

Chris Fabry Interview (Humility in Day-to-Day Life ) [44:07- 57:17]

Devotion (The Word of God and the Spirit) [59:14- 01:11:54]

Donate to Moody Radio: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/morningshow

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

S1 (00:00):
Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.

S2 (00:08):
We're in a hot week here, guys. Freedom week. That
means Freedom Friday is going to be whoop whoop going here.
And we're thrilled that we can come here to you
this morning. We really are. What an opportunity we have.
The tomb is empty. Our God is alive. We can
experience the abundant life in Christ. And the question is
what gets in the way? What seems to rob us

(00:29):
sometimes of that joy? There was a time when maybe
it felt like, man, nothing could take it away. But
you feel as if something's encroached on that. This is
a very real thing. This is not just a one off.
These are real things that we face. We got Super
Di back in the house this morning.

S3 (00:48):
Hey. Good morning. Hello.

S2 (00:50):
We get Super Di back in the house. You ever
had your joy stolen? We just heard Josiah Queen saying.
Can't steal my joy. But it can be ripped off,
can it?

S3 (00:58):
It can. It really, really can. Whether it be something.
Financial health is a huge one. Uh, big one is
especially family. Your kids.

S2 (01:06):
Yeah.

S3 (01:06):
Yeah, that's a big one.

S2 (01:08):
Can really rip us off. Yeah. Now, Jonathan Young Thunder,
you've never had your joy stolen from you.

S4 (01:13):
Never. No. No. Never. No.

S2 (01:15):
So tell us the secret, man. I want you to
spend four hours here this morning explaining the secret to
holding on to joy.

S4 (01:21):
I wish I could, yeah, because it is hard. I.
I have lost my joy before. And I think for me,
a big one is just kind of anxiety. I struggle with,
with anxiety. And I get worried, I get afraid and
I lose, uh, the idea of my identity in Christ

(01:41):
and who I am in him. And when I forget
those things, then I. I can't focus on what's right
or what's good. And I can't remember that joy that
is always present for me. It is always present. But yeah,
I can lose it.

S2 (01:55):
Yeah. So here's the thing. Uh, Joy can can be robbed.
We know that the potential is there. This is why
we find evidence all throughout Scripture. Look at Philippians four
three important conversations that we're called to have there. Those
conversations revolve around not only God and others, but ourself

(02:16):
that we're supposed to be speaking words of life over ourselves.
We find in James one that joy can be ripped
off when we face trials and challenges of every kind,
says James. And the question is, how do we hold
on to it? In James's account, he says, these trials

(02:36):
challenges that you're facing this morning are going to make
us more mature and complete. So he's appealing for a
perspective shift. And then he says, I love this in
verse five. If you need wisdom for getting through this
trial so that your joy isn't stolen, ask God who
gives freely. He is not a shifting shadow. But ask

(02:59):
with your feet in one boat that is in faith
in Christ. You know. If we're really being honest with ourselves,
there's a lot of things that can rip off our joy,
but most often it can be pinned down to a
few things. Like you said, Super Dei. It's relational challenges.
It's financial challenges. It is, um, addictions that are really

(03:25):
all those are a substitute gods that are coming in
trying to fill that void that only God can fill.
And when you can identify them, it's really freeing. And
we are so grateful for thousands of you that have
downloaded a little quiz and taken it. And the reason
we want to give this to you is we're thinking
about freedom all week long. It's good to identify what's

(03:46):
robbing our freedom, what's what's holding us back, what's in
that gap that's got a roadblock up? Why do I
feel so stuck spiritually. So we are going to be
tackling how to get position for power today because it's
all about that. If you're attempting in your own strength
above water line, it's a metaphor I'm going to use

(04:06):
a little bit today to regain yourself, your identity, who
you are. Regain a sense of balance or equilibrium in
your life. Take it from an old pastor. That's an
exercise of futility. But if, on the other hand, you're
really going below the waterline and watching what God can do.

(04:26):
Look out! But it's so good to identify what's got
me stuck. Is it the lack of time redemption in
my life? Is it lack of focus and clarity? And
have I stopped taking risks? Really putting myself out there
with faith? Have I gotten into a routine that's stolen
some of the joy from me? Some routines are good.

(04:49):
Some can be very destructive. Because walking by faith, not
by sight. That's paramount in the Christian life. Is it
people around you that have drug you down, held you
back from what God has from you? Is it just
a sin missing the mark? Hamartia means to miss the mark.

(05:10):
Is it something in your life like that? And we
want to help you identify it. And this is one
of the coolest little tools that will take you about
three minutes to take this. And you're going to have
in your hand. By the time you're done taking a
little quiz, you're going to have in your hand. This
is where I'm strong. This is where I have a
growth opportunity. And I mean, it is an opportunity. And

(05:31):
everybody loves to take a look at man, how am
I doing really? Personality tests dis profile Myers-Briggs animal in you.
You can go online and do animal in you.

S3 (05:43):
Are you a Labrador? Yes.

S2 (05:44):
Uh, that's that's that's the golden retriever Labrador otter that
this is a little bit different, but it's it's good.
And everybody loves those things, right. You figure out, oh,
this is who I am. I'm a Chihuahua. That's great.
But here's what we want to give to you. We
want to get you this quiz in your hand. If
you haven't grabbed it yet, grab it. If you've taken

(06:06):
it once before and you're like, where are those results?
You can grab it again. Just text the word quiz
to 800 555, 78, 98. That's that simple. Just one
word quiz to 805, five, five, 78, 98. And then
we're going to take you on a little bit of
a journey today. This whole day is committed to being

(06:28):
positioned for power. We are running against the grain of
Western Christianity that has a very top side down or
outward in. We're working from the inside out, and I
and I know when we say that you can think, okay, yeah,
I gotta work from the inside out. Well, what does
that mean? I mean, at the end of the day.

(06:50):
What's that mean? What's it look like? What are the
practices we do to cultivate this depth of connection with
God that's going to give us victory in our life
when we feel stuck spiritually. So where are you stuck?
Where are you hung up? What's got you holding? What's
holding you back from all of God's promises? Text the
word quiz to 800 555, 78, 98, 78, 98. There's

(07:16):
no charge for this thing. There's there's nothing in the
way here at all. Just give us a text quiz
to 805, 55, 78, 98. We're going to go below
the water line. Sound good guys?

S4 (07:30):
It's really important to it. Sounds good. We got to
go under.

S3 (07:33):
All set.

S2 (07:34):
We're going to go all day long going below the
water line. Get in positioned for power I think that's
the challenge. At the end of the day, what we
need is God's power and we're going to break it
down for you.

S1 (07:46):
Today He was sharing the gospel on the radio and
then he got saved. Young thunders in the crew. It's
Carl and crew on Moody Radio.

S2 (07:56):
When you think Jesus way, what do you think? Super day.
You hear the Jesus way. What do you think?

S3 (08:02):
The only way. Okay, the only way.

S2 (08:05):
Okay.

S3 (08:06):
That's really the first thing that honestly popped into my mind.
It was the only way. And I think a lot
of it is based on the fact that I came
to Christ as an adult. So I realized even through
my youth, through decisions, through relationships, just, you know, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong,
wrong paths all the way through that the Jesus way
is the way. If you really want freedom, purpose in

(08:26):
your life. He's the only way.

S2 (08:29):
What do you think, Young Thunder?

S4 (08:30):
Yeah, I think well, at the beginning of the song,
Phil Wickham kind of puts it like this if you
curse me, I will bless you. You know it. It's.
It's the opposite of what the world would do. It's.
You know, if you hurt me, I'm gonna hurt you back.
But it's no if. If you hurt me, I'm gonna
bless you. If you hate me, I'm gonna love you. I.

(08:53):
The way of Jesus is the way of life and love.
And I want to live like that.

S2 (08:59):
Yeah, yeah, that's really what we're talking about here today
when we talk about being positioned for power. The the
the call on our life is to look at the
life of Jesus and to walk the Jesus way. Yeah,
we're disciples of Christ. So what is the Jesus way?

(09:21):
Coming up, we're going to talk about being positioned for power.
And I just want to start with one day I
witnessed a guy nearly drowned to death in what would
have been the most horrific way. Except for one thing
that he had to do. And it's a great metaphor
for being positioned for power. It's the Jesus way. It's

(09:45):
the only way.

S1 (09:47):
She's a choreographer extraordinaire and everything is Greek to her.
Super di is in the crew. It's Carl and crew
on Moody Radio.

S2 (09:57):
It was summer in Anchorage, Alaska, and dad took me
downtown to Ship Creek. Big, towering hotels over the top
of this riverbed. Ship Creek is a unique place to
go fishing because we have humongous tides in Alaska. I
say we I feel like I'm still from up there.
I am. You are raised up.

S4 (10:16):
There, always.

S3 (10:16):
In your blood. Exactly.

S2 (10:18):
Yeah, it's in my blood. And it was just a
beautiful early morning. We were catching the tides. And the
way the tides work is that there's always salmon in
the stream. But there's a big influx of salmon that
come in with a rising tide. And the rising tide
is over 20ft. So every six hours, 20ft of water
exits Ship Creek. And then six hours later, the tide

(10:42):
turns and boom, here comes another river of water, another
20 plus feet of rise. And with that incoming tide
comes an incoming school of fish. So we're down there
getting ready. There's people down low in the river and
they are getting. Really. They're kind of scraping what was

(11:03):
in in the last tide. But there's good fish to
be caught. But there's one thing you've got to be
aware of when you walk down those silty, muddy banks
down to that creek that's now flowing out. And soon
that creek will be actually reversed when the tides come in.
We're right at the mouth of Ship Creek. And the
one thing you have to be alert to is that

(11:26):
the mud and silt is almost like what I would
imagine quicksand to be. I've never been in quicksand, but I've.
The mudflats in Anchorage down at Ship Creek are much
like that. And the way you have to be careful
is that when you get into these muddy silt flats,
you find that there's no bottom to these things. So

(11:48):
you step onto them and you begin to sink in them.
And if you're not fleet of foot, finding some little
bit firmer ground and you can find some, you can
get sucked in in a big way.

S3 (12:00):
Right.

S2 (12:00):
What was.

S3 (12:01):
Scary?

S2 (12:02):
It's it can be scary. So we pull up to, uh,
Ship Creek back. The Rambler up. Good old Rambler back
it up to kind of the parking space that we
were in. And we're getting out our gear and everything,
and the tide's about to change. So the incoming flood
of red salmon is coming back in. I guess silver
salmon is what we're fishing for that day. And as

(12:23):
the tide's about to turn, we see a guy, uh, down,
right down by the creek, and he's trying to get
turned around and get out of there. Well, with every
step that he was taken. He was getting further down
into the muck, so he'd push up with one foot,
but the other foot would go down and he'd push

(12:45):
with that foot trying to get out, and the other
foot would go down. And now the tide's starting to
turn slowly, but it's coming. And my dad watched him
struggling for a little bit and struggling. And then it
started to get dicey. And then it started to get dangerous.
Minutes go by. And my dad knew something had to

(13:07):
happen here. And he yells down to the guy. He says,
you need help. He's the guy yells, I think I've
got it. He struggles. A few more minutes. My dad
yelled again to him, you need some help? Now it
wasn't a question mark. It was you need help.

S3 (13:22):
Statement? Yeah.

S2 (13:23):
My dad threw a line down to this guy and
my dad yells at him, tie it around your waist,
tie it around your waist. And the guy ties it
around his waist. And now at this point, he's up
probably mid thigh into the mud with his hip waders on.
I mean he's stuck guys. Imagine being mid mid thigh
with mud all around you.

S4 (13:44):
He's not stepping out of that on his own that's
for sure.

S2 (13:47):
No no he was in a he was in trouble.
My dad says tied around your waist. He ties it
around his waist. My dad ties the other end of
the Rambler and he says, I'm going to I'm going
to pull you gently out. But he says to him,
the best counsel he could give him, he said, you're
going to have to lay down. And the guy goes,
I've got my gear. Dad says, leave the gear behind.

(14:09):
You got to lay down. The guy drops his tackle
box and his rod and reel, and he was resistant
at first. But as my dad gave him a little
bit of tug, the guy still resistant. He's wanting to
stand up. He's not wanting to get mud on his coat.
He's not wanting to get mud on his hands. He's not.
And I don't blame the guy.

S5 (14:30):
But sure, now.

S2 (14:31):
The tide is really coming in strong. My dad comes
out of the Rambler. He says, listen to me. Lay
down on the mud. The guy listened, laid down on
the mud, and as he laid down low on the mud,
my dad gave him a little tug, and up out

(14:54):
of the hip waders came his legs, and we pulled
him gently with that car up to a little bit
firmer patch of silty, uh, mud flat, and he was
able to get his bare feet underneath him and walk out.
A few guys tried to get the tackle box and
the rod and reel before the water came in, but

(15:16):
soon the water came in. Everything was swept away. Hip
waders were filled up with water and mud. Where that
guy was standing was soon covered to the point where
it was ten feet over his head. He would have
drowned there if he'd been alone. Here's the point of
this story. We have to be humble before God if

(15:42):
we're going to be positioned for power. This idea that
we can stand in our own strength and get unstuck
from where you are today is a complete fallacy. It
does not work. The Jesus way is to go low.
The Jesus way is to lay down your life yet again.

(16:06):
The Jesus way is humility. We're going to be talking
today about being positioned for power, but first and foremost,
the one virtue you need to embrace today, if you
feel stuck in any way, is absolute humility before God,

(16:26):
and he can pull you out. We're going to prove
it from the scriptures In this next half hour.

S1 (16:33):
You can take him out of Alaska, but you can't
take Alaska out of him. Carl is in the crew.
It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.

S2 (16:42):
It's Carl and crew helping you take your next step
with Jesus. We are in a week called freedom Freedom Week.
And yeah, Freedom Friday is going to be a fun
time of testimonies, but we are going to be tackling
all day long. This this great principle that's found over
and over in Scripture. It's a road less traveled, but
it is God's economy and it will position you for power.

(17:05):
And there is one word. It's humility. In fact, I
want to ask you if you were stuck spiritually in
some way, it could have been a moral infidelity. It
could have been some kind of addiction. It could have
been some kind of relational conflict that you were in,
and you chose the Jesus way you took humility on,

(17:26):
which isn't thinking pitiful little of yourself into thinking much
of God and positioning yourself under him. It's slowing everything down.
It's taking the pressure off yourself. It's saying, God, I
do it again. Romans 12 one I'm laying down my
life as a living sacrifice. And you found God free

(17:49):
you from something. You were positioned for power. If that's
your story and you've got a humble. Real story of
God's deliverance. Because of a posture of humility, you were
postured for power. I want you to call right now
800 555 78, 98. I want you to humbly share

(18:12):
how humility before God got you unstuck from something that
you couldn't do in your strength, whatever it was. 800
555 7898 how did humility lift you up? Give us
a call right now. 1 or 2 of you, 805, 55, 78, 98.

(18:33):
Want to build a case for this? There's. I've got
so many resources in front of me. Let me give
you Saint Augustine's quote. This is profound. He says, do
you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a
tower that will pierce the clouds. Lay first the foundation
of humility we find in first Peter five. I'm just

(18:58):
going to give you a smattering of truths about humility
and the power of it. God opposes the proud, but
gives grace to the humble. When pride comes, then comes disgrace.
But with the humble is wisdom. That's Proverbs 11 two.
Proverbs 1533. The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom,
and humility comes before honor. Isn't that amazing? Before destruction,

(19:24):
a man's heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.
That's Proverbs 1812. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he
will exalt you. James 410. He is told you, old man,
this is classic Micah six eight. What is good? And
what does the Lord require of you but to do justice,

(19:45):
and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is
riches and honor and life. Proverbs 22 four. I think
one of my top books ever is the book Humility

(20:06):
by Andrew Murray, and it's a great book. You can
get it. I saw last time I saw it on Amazon,
it's like 6 or 7 bucks. Boy, it's the best
6 or 7 bucks you'll spend. Not a wasted word
in this book. I'll repeat it here many times on
Karl and crew. Humility, he says, is the one virtue
that gives birth to every other virtue. And you might say, Carl,

(20:30):
I'm barely surviving. I want to tell you, go lower, friend,
go lower. Humble yourself under God's mighty hand. It's not
thinking pitiful little of yourself. It's thinking much of God
and giving him praise. We're going to pressure test this.
How is humility in your life been the very thing

(20:53):
that God used to get you unstuck from something? It
could have been a sin missing the mark. It could
have been, uh, really the sin of wasting time. It
could be the missing the mark with relationships. Some secret
thing that you had in your life that God liberated
you from. But humility was the posture where you've found power.

(21:17):
How did God help you? We're taking your calls. Just
a couple of you. 805, 55, 78, 98. Would you
call right now if the Spirit of God is prompting you?
800 555 7898.

S6 (21:31):
I hope you're enjoying today's episode. Sorry to interrupt, but
I want to make sure you know that Carl and
crew airs live weekday mornings from 5 to 9 Central Time.
Go to Carl and Crew org for ways to listen
in your area. Okay, back to the show.

S1 (21:45):
She was trying to earn her way to God. But
God showed her she didn't have to. Ali is in
the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.

S2 (21:55):
Humility is the one virtue that gives birth to every
other virtue, says Andrew Murray. And he says the absence
of humility is explanation enough for every character defect we
have in our life. Now, that's a pretty roundhouse statement,
and I want to remind you of what Augustine said.
Listen to his quote. Do you wish to rise? Begin

(22:17):
by descending. How counterintuitive is that, guys?

S4 (22:22):
It's so counterintuitive. It's the the upside down kingdom principles
of God that the way the world does it, God
often does it opposite.

S5 (22:30):
Yeah.

S2 (22:31):
You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds, says Augustine.
Lay first a foundation of humility. So I'm asking you
a question. How did God use humility? The emptying of yourself,
not thinking pitiful little of yourself, but knowing who God is.

(22:52):
Understanding that our weakness is a commodity in the kingdom.
And you lowered yourself under the mighty hand of God
and he lifted you up. Mason. First time caller in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Thanks, Mason.
What's your story, my man?

S7 (23:07):
Well, I'll try to get through it without crying, but, um. Uh,
for about four years, I was addicted to alcohol. I
grew up in the church, and, um, once I got
a taste of the world when I went to college.
It just everything that I had learned kind of fled. Um,
and just through certain things that had happened while I

(23:28):
was in college, uh, that was the only kind of
temporary comfort that I could find. So it just I
just turned to alcohol and, um, it got to the
point where I'm originally from Minnesota. And so it was wintertime,
and I ended up having a seizure for my withdrawals,
and my mom, uh, had to resuscitate me to life.

(23:49):
And I was just in the. I remember waking up
in the ambulance and in the hospital and knowing that
I could have died, because there's a good chance that
my mom wouldn't have found me and I would be
in hell for eternity. And that stuff just started coming back.
And I started to regain a love for going to

(24:12):
church and and understanding. My eyes were open and I
still struggled with it. And so I went to a
rehab here in Tennessee. Um, and while I was looking,
I just a lot came, um, came up like, when
I was searching. And this one in Tennessee is faith based.
And when I just kind of searched one in Tennessee.

(24:33):
It was the first one that popped up, and I
just started reading about it, and it was just. It
completely changed my life. He completely transformed me there and, um,
humbled me from. It took potentially dying, um, humbling me
to to see that the world is not what I need.
The world is not going to give me my answers,

(24:55):
and the world is not going to provide me comfort.

S5 (24:57):
Boom!

S2 (24:57):
Brother. Boom! Brother. Way to go, Mason. First time caller
from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Thank you. Jessica, you got a similar
story with alcohol. Tell us how God used humility in
your life. From Brandon, Florida.

S8 (25:12):
Yes. Good morning. Um, yes. My story is somewhat similar. Um,
I grew up in the church as well for many years. Um,
actually my mother, she served the Lord for 25 plus years. And, um,
to know that her prayers never went unanswered. For years
she prayed that, um, her children will all come to
know Christ and follow Christ. But for me, when I

(25:37):
learned the true love of Jesus and when I completely
surrendered my life to the Lord, and I asked the
Lord to deliver me from all bondages and strongholds, and
one of them was, um, alcohol. And it was something
that I felt the need that I needed it all
the time. But when I surrendered it to the Lord,

(25:59):
I felt like it was a radical transformation. And it
was something that I can't explain. Only God knows that
from one day to another. I didn't believe it. I
didn't want it. I didn't want nothing to do with it.
And it was just a miraculous, Miraculous. Um. Miracle. And
three years of sobriety. Serving the Lord. Um. And serving

(26:21):
alongside with my family has been the most humbling and humility, um.
By far.

S2 (26:29):
That's awesome.

S8 (26:30):
But alcohol was mainly the main thing.

S2 (26:33):
Yeah. Way to go, Jessica from Brandon, Florida. That's what
we're talking about here today. And for you, it might
be you're here in the Spirit of God. Call you
humble yourself under my mighty hand, and I'm going to
lift you up. I believe you're hearing his voice today.
I don't care what it is that has you stuck spiritually.

(26:53):
Humility is power in God's economy. Live it today, guys.
Go low before God. Watch him work.

S1 (27:02):
You're listening to curl and crew on Moody Radio.

S2 (27:06):
It's below the waterline, man. That's what matters most. It
is easy to get caught up in the surface stuff
of this world, and even in a Christian culture, it
is a real threat. Doctor Ronnie Floyd it's a threat,
isn't it? My man, we've pastored a lot of years.
What do you say?

S9 (27:23):
Well, there's no doubt about it. I mean, the main
thing we need to do is take care of our
spiritual lives personally. Where God speaks to us every day. Carl.
And that way, we're more fit. And we are. We
are much more ready to speak publicly when we've been
privately with God.

S2 (27:43):
Yeah, privately with God. You know what's interesting, Ronnie, is
I had Luke Smallbone on here a few days ago.
He's one of the artists in For King and Country.
He and his brother Joel. And it was so sweet
to hear this kid. And compared to you and me
as a kid. But he's, um, he's on a journey
right now discovering, uh, the the the hidden things. And

(28:06):
he was talking about wanting to experience, really, the power
of God. He's like God. Whether there's miracles happening around
in other people's lives and there aren't mine. And he
sends the Spirit of God telling them it's the secret things.
It's the hidden things that matter most. And I was
cogitating this morning, Ronnie, how many people in the church

(28:27):
really have that secret life with God? But that truly
is the place where all the other gifts begin to flow.
And Bible studies now matter in small group, changes things
and speak to that engine room that below the surface,
particularly humility. Ronnie, how have you seen this born out

(28:48):
in your own life?

S9 (28:50):
Well, I really believe that when we pray, we're depending
on God. When we don't pray, we're depending on ourselves.
Jesus called us to prioritize the secret place and the
secret place. What does he say In Matthew six? He

(29:10):
says that we need to go into an inner room,
a private place, shut the door and not desire to
be seen by men, but to fellowship with Christ, with
God himself. And when we do that, then obviously we're
in the presence of the Lord. And whatever God chooses

(29:32):
to do with our lives in a public manner, uh,
that's in the Lord's hands. It's not in ours. We
want God personally. We want to experience his presence, and
we leave the results to God.

S2 (29:47):
We know that earnestness at that point. Ronnie will not
be disappointed. God will speak. Um, a lot of us
were raised in a faith tradition that we neglected the
power of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is
speaking to us, reminding us of truth. How does listening

(30:08):
to God being introspective, asking God, I love David's prayer,
search me, know me, try me, see if there'd be
any hurtful way in me and lead me in the
way everlasting. How does that work practically in that secret
place with God?

S9 (30:22):
Well, I believe the the key thing we need to
do in prayer is listen to God. What is God
saying to us? How does God speak to us? I
think the reality is the most tangible, definable, and dependable
way God speaks to us is through His Word. Yes,

(30:45):
through the Bible. If you want to be a serious
Christian who walks with God, you must embrace the Bible
as the Word of God, not simply believing it, but
letting the thousands of those promises become the energy by
which you stand on those promises by faith, knowing that

(31:10):
God always delivers on every word he has ever said.
He has always fulfilled his word.

S2 (31:21):
You know, you were just reading from the sermon on
the Mount and that I've told some church members recently
at one of our campuses that you could almost camp
out in the sermon on the Mount for a year,
because there is so much truth baked into that one
little message on a mountainside. How do we need to
change even our Bible reading in a way that we're

(31:44):
meeting with God in a secret place, so that we're
internalizing these truths and humbly receiving them? Ronnie.

S9 (31:51):
Well, I believe consistency goes a long way, Carl. And
so many Christians, uh, have never been taught how to
be consistent in their faith, consistent in their walk with Christ.
I mean, the bottom line is, if we don't walk
with Christ personally, how in the world are we ever
going to live for Christ publicly? And we must understand

(32:15):
that Jesus wants us to be with him. We're talking
about the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lord
wants to fellowship with you. I was reminded, uh, even
this morning, Carl, in relationship to what we're talking about,
of this scripture that God has used so dynamically in
my life. James 410 humble yourselves in the presence of

(32:40):
the Lord, and he will exalt you. You see, this
is where it's at. We must humble ourselves in the
presence of God. Now we know there are many ways
to do that. But listen to the key here. He
calls us to initiate humbling ourselves toward God. Many times

(33:07):
people laugh and they joke and they say, well, God
will humble us or, you know, I'm going to humble you. Well,
it's not really anybody's business to humble us other than
one person alone. And that is God. In a corrective sense,
if we do not humble ourselves before the Lord and

(33:28):
trust him to do with us whatever he chooses to do.

S2 (33:33):
What do you say to someone who feels like their
church busy? They're active in church, but they feel like
that connection with God is something that has diminished or
maybe evaporated years ago, and they're genuinely born again. I'm
talking someone who's been transformed by the power of God,

(33:54):
but it feels like if and we have so many
people honest with themselves here in this listening audience across
North America. Ronnie, which is so beautiful. But what do
you say as a pastor to that person right now
who feels like man, I the joy is gone. The
fruit of the spirit is gone. I don't even have
self-control anymore. It feels like we need to slow down

(34:16):
on religious activity and come back to this closet again. Ronnie.

S9 (34:21):
Well, I would say be faithful. Get yourself in the
secret place. Get on a Bible reading plan. Listen, one
of the most dynamic, powerful, transformative things that has ever
happened in my life is when I began to read
through the Bible every year, I realized that may not

(34:42):
be everybody's goal. Okay, that's fine, but I'm telling you,
the key is you must read the scripture consistently. And
people say, well, I could never read the Bible through
a year. Yes you can. It's only 4 or 5
chapters a day. I mean, that's 15 minutes, 25 minutes,
depending on where you are in the Scripture and the

(35:04):
consistency of God's pouring into your mind, giving you what
we call a biblical worldview about everything you see prepares
you for life, and it prepares you for the good days,
the bad days, the times you're up, the times you're down,
the times you go to church and God speaks to you.

(35:25):
And the other times you go to church and say, wow,
I didn't get a lot out of today. You know,
the key is, what are you getting out of God
every day? Yes. And are you availing yourself to him
when we're in the secret place and we're listening to
what God is saying to us in His word, then
we will be more prepared. Carl, in how to talk

(35:46):
to God about whatever is going on in our life.

S5 (35:49):
Yeah.

S2 (35:50):
And you've done a great work here just recently. The
supernatural power of prayer and fasting. Uh, I want I
want you to link those together. And the minute we
say fasting, it's like, whoa, slow down here. I know
what a lot of people feel, but withholding a meal.
Let's not go to a 40 day fast. Let's back
up to a meal. What can we anticipate when we

(36:12):
combine prayer and withholding food, particularly? A lot of times
people say fast from TV and that could be a
good discipline. But there's something about withholding food for a
moment in time that. What's it do, Ronnie?

S9 (36:26):
Well, let's take, for example, what you just said. Okay.
Let's say that we eat breakfast and we're going to
eat dinner, but we're going to reserve the lunch time. Okay.
Let's say from 9:00 in the morning until 5:00 in
the afternoon, where that's going to be time that we

(36:47):
are going to declare ourselves on a personal fast before
the Lord. Identify what you're going to talk to God about.
And then in the noon time when you normally eat,
pull aside for 20 to 30 minutes, open your Bible
and ask God to speak to you about what you're
talking to him about, whether that's a family issue, financial issue,

(37:11):
vocational issue, whether it's about our country or about your
children or whatever it may be about your own life. God,
I need direction. I need to know whether or not
to buy this house. I need to know whether or
not I need to take this job. I need to
know when you want me to quit, when you want
me to to to get started again. I mean, I

(37:32):
need to understand what you desire for me. And so
I'm going to draw aside, withdraw aside with God and
God alone. And in those several hours, even if I'm
in the midst of working during the day, that doesn't
distract from that. You just need to always have a
time of withdrawing and and and focusing your time, those

(37:55):
few hours. This is what I'm going to talk to
God about every time I even think I'm going to
have a hunger pain, that's God calling me to call
upon him. Lord, you've told me to get aside today
and I am humbling myself through fasting and prayer in
this brief series of hours so that I can talk

(38:16):
to you about what I need in relationship to my
walk with you. Help me Lord, speak to me through
your word and get yourself in the Bible. God speaks
through the Bible.

S2 (38:30):
Yeah he does. And then that Bible is it begins
to percolate in our hearts. We get a sensitivity to
the spirit. I gotta tell you, Ronnie, the Lord woke
me up this morning at 2:30 a.m., so I'm a
little bit short on some sleep here. But I'm grateful
to God. And here's what happened. I was woken at
230 immediately with something that the Spirit of God prompted

(38:52):
on me. And that was we're jumping into a new
series in the in the gospel of Mark on both
of our campuses, where I'm lead pastor here in Chicagoland.
And the Lord told me, you've got the wrong title
for this series. And I, Ronnie, you know what I'm
talking about, because it was almost an audible voice, and

(39:13):
all I can say is that and you might ask, well,
how in the world is that related to Scripture? I
feel like, in fact, God used my bride in a
very powerful way because I had given her the title
for this series, and she said, I don't know about
that one. And I baked on that for about a
week and a half. I liked it, but I didn't

(39:36):
love it. And what it was related to was a
word that she said. She said, I want to make
sure that a title to a series is Giving Jesus
my Jesus. She said the the proper platform that represents
his life. Well. So I've got this this topic of

(39:57):
humility this morning, and I've got a wife speaking to
me about something. And it God wakes me up at 230,
and I have joy in my heart because I wrote
down three words for what the series is going to be.
It doesn't matter what it's going to be. Three words
that I feel like the Spirit of God said that
represents me rightly, that represents my son rightly. When you

(40:23):
begin to be in the word and hear the voice
of God, you will hear his voice. Is what I'm
saying right, Ronnie, this is not a pipe dream, my friend.

S9 (40:33):
No, this is really. This is the truth. I mean,
we have to understand God's Word. The Bible is God's
word and words to our life, and it literally becomes
a lamp unto our feet and a light for our path.
And if we put those words in our heart, we're

(40:54):
not going to be near as prone to sin against God. Yeah.
And if anyone wants to walk in the spirit, anyone
wants to be filled with the spirit, anyone wants to
be used by God in a in a grand manner.
Get yourself in the Bible. Humble yourself and say the

(41:15):
world doesn't have the answer. It doesn't matter who I
listen to about whatever. God, I need to hear from you. Yeah,
I open this book. Speak to my life. Yeah. And
that's what God does.

S2 (41:34):
So good. Ronnie. And some of you might say, well,
how in the world did that prompting call have anything
to do with the Word of God? I'd been pouring
over the first chapter of Mark, and I was so
struck by the humility of John the Baptist. Short excerpt.
And then the teachings of Jesus to repent and then
follow me and I. God used the words of Mark

(41:57):
with the words of my bride and the prompting of
the spirit to wake me up into changes. Series title.
It may seem like a small thing, but it's not,
is it, Ronnie?

S9 (42:07):
No, it's not a small thing at all, because as
a pastor and a preacher of the Word of God,
one thing you want to always do is when you
stand up. It's not that you're going to share a
text alone, it is that you have been with God
in such a way that that text is burning in

(42:29):
your heart. And not only do you have a text,
but that text has you and it possesses you, and
it fills you with passion and expectancy that God is
going to work in a powerful, powerful way.

S2 (42:48):
Love it. Doctor Ronnie Floyd, I've got a link for you.
Boom crew. If you want to take prayer and fasting
with holding a meal with the Word of God, open
before you and begin to hear the voice of God.
You will, you will. And here's the link I've got
for you. It'll get you two places. One is to
some great blogs along these lines, and a link to

(43:10):
a book called The Supernatural Power of Prayer and Fasting
12 Ways God Will Change Your Life. Live a Righteous
and Fulfilled life. I know you want that. So simply
text the word right now just to 800 555 7898.
Just text the word fast to 800 555 7898. Take

(43:35):
a look. Could be the Spirit of God is working
in your heart this morning. Just take a look at
this link. Text the word fast to 800 555 7898.
Ronnie Floyd, thank you for being with me this morning,
my friend.

S9 (43:49):
Always good to share the morning with you, my brother Carl.
Have a wonderful, wonderful day.

S2 (43:54):
Pastor Ronnie Floyd. A great man of God. And what
an opportunity we have today. Text the word fast to 805, 55, 78, 98.

S1 (44:04):
This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.

S2 (44:08):
What do you do when you get stuck spiritually? You
feel like the joy is gone. Self-control is gone. Those
are fruits of the spirit. Peace. Kindness. I gotta tell you,
the way up is down. God's economy. Young thunder. We
say it around here all the time, my man. In
God's economy, the way up is down. Always and forever.

S4 (44:26):
No doubt about it. It's. It is so counterintuitive to
what the world would say you have to do, but
it works every time.

S2 (44:35):
Yeah. You might be on a mad scramble today, going,
how am I going to get out of this mess?
And the I think the conventional wisdom is you got
to try a little harder. What if we told you
you got to go a little lower? With me right now. Oh,
good man of God. Chris Fabry from Chris Fabry live.
How you doing, young man?

S1 (44:52):
I'm awake and upright and ambulatory. How about you, Carl?

S2 (44:57):
I'm doing great. You know what? I want to peel
it back. Let's get after it. Here. You've talked with
a lot of people over a lot of years. You've
seen those that have walked in victory. No one is.
No one is immune or avoids getting stuck at times
in life. And it can be. It can be a
missing of the mark, a sin. That's what it's called

(45:17):
in Scripture, just means to miss the mark. It can
be a repetitive thing that it's like, boy, I'm living
in secret with this thing and I can't get out.
This whole issue of humility, Chris, it's foundational, isn't it,
my man? Pour out your heart for a minute.

S10 (45:31):
Yeah. You and I have both the same book that
we've gone through several times by Andrew Murray.

S2 (45:36):
You're a Murray guy.

S10 (45:38):
I had a listener send this to me. And she said,
I think you'd really like this. And it's like, I don't.
I don't look at things that I, I don't underline,
I underline everything, you know, but, um, yeah, the one
of the, one of the things that I have and
this echoes from Don Cole, who used to be radio pastor,
and it was a good friend that I worked side

(45:59):
by side with who taught me so much. But his
line that I continue to remember, if you're going to
walk in victory, you have to see struggle not as failure,
but as a sign of God at work. And the
thing that I see in people who get stuck is
they they start looking at themselves rather than the sovereignty

(46:19):
of God, the goodness of God. You know, hearing his
voice in the middle of the stuckness that God is
using this thing in my life, if I will let
go of it, if I will let go of even
the ability for me to feel better about myself and
will just say, look, this is where I am. This
is where I'm walking in this slough of despond or

(46:41):
whatever it is. If I let that do its work,
let the weakness do its work in my heart, then
I will be in a much better place, because that's
the place of surrender and submission to him.

S2 (46:54):
Yeah. Weakness. It's an interesting thing. Nobody claims weakness as
a commodity, but in God's kingdom it is in our weakness.
He is strong. Second Corinthians 12. Amazing passage. If you
need that today, go there. Give us a story from
your life, and I'm wanting you to be as vulnerable
as you can be here. We're big on authenticity and
you are too. Chris, how has this worked in your life?

S10 (47:16):
Well, the thing that came to my mind very first
was the house that we lived in in Colorado a
few years ago, and we were stuck in this place
at a place where our kids were sick, our pets
were sick, my wife and I were sick, and we
we couldn't figure it out. And we'd done all that.
We'd run to every doctor. I mean, it was something

(47:37):
like Andrea, uh, catalogued 60 to 70 some doctors for
all of the different maladies that that everybody had. And
they were all different. We couldn't figure it out. And
a neighbor of ours said, have you ever thought that
maybe it's your house that's making you sick? And at
first we kind of pushed it off, and then we

(47:58):
started thinking, well, maybe there's something to this. And I
was on an airplane coming back from Chicago to Colorado,
and Andrea had just called me and she had talked
with another expert who said, I think this is right.
I think it's your house that's making you sick. And
I think you need to leave it. I think you

(48:19):
need to to walk away. And, uh, and this is
a house that we thought we were going to, you know,
we bought it.

S2 (48:27):
Your life house?

S10 (48:27):
Yeah. It was. We were going to die in that house.
We almost did. Um, and and as I'm. And as
I'm flying back. I'm running through all this stuff, especially
for me as provider. You know what's going to happen
to us financially if we do this? What's you know,
this is a huge how in the world and all
of this. And I got to the place where I said,

(48:49):
you know, if, if, if we're wrong about this, if
the doctor's wrong, if my wife is wrong, then we
can go back. If the doctor's right and my wife
is right, then what will I think 10 or 15
years down the road if I don't, if I don't
surrender this surrender. And so that plane flight was my Gethsemane. Uh,

(49:14):
am I going to. And no sweat. Drops of blood.
But it was just this wrestling. And by the time
I landed in Denver and then had to drive the
two hours, you know, south to get there, I was
I was at the place where I was ready to say, okay.
And I went in and I took my suit off
and laid my, you know, valise or whatever I was carried,

(49:38):
you know, the the the knapsack down. And I got
dressed in a t shirt and shorts and walked out
the door, and that was it. Everything we had in
the house we left there, uh, and we walked away. Now, I,
I worked in the. There's more to this story, I'll
tell you later, but that's basically I had to I

(49:59):
had to surrender in order to get to the life
and the the healing and the repair. And it was
it was brutal. It was grueling. You know, everything in
me screamed, no, don't, don't do that. You can't do that.
That's a dumb thing to do. Um, but then I

(50:20):
started to see the turnaround. Then I started to see
the health that came from those decisions, breathing clean air.
We had stachybotrys behind the walls, you know. It was
this black mold that we couldn't see. Yeah. And and
it was affecting all of us. It was. It was
affecting all of us differently, too. That's the thing. It's
the thing that, you know, sin will do. It'll affect

(50:43):
one person one way and another person another way. So
that has been this object lesson in my life, that
if you will surrender and I'm not telling everybody, everybody
gets mold. You don't have to walk away from your house.
There are things that you can do. But for me, spiritually,
that's the thing. I got to lay down my own ability,

(51:03):
my own actions, my own stress and struggle, you know,
in this whole thing, and allow God to do what
he's going to do.

S2 (51:12):
Yeah. Chris, it's it's interesting because that's a great metaphor.
There is something in our lives and and it affects
everyone differently. Um, that moment of humility. You're going up
against a lot. What are people going to think? Am
I going to look crazy? Uh, those are real battles
that we face, and they're you're you're talking to a

(51:34):
lot of people right now that feel stuck. And it's
might not be a mouldy home. It could be stuck in.
You name it. Fill in the blank. And I want
you to do this exercise right now. If you could
get victory over this one thing that God's revealed to
you that you know would have a domino effect to
every other victory and promise in Christ Jesus, what would
that one thing be? And if the Spirit of God

(51:56):
laid that on your heart? Right now, a lot of
people have brought to mind so many different things right
now that they know they need to walk away from
in humility and surrender. What do you say, Chris? Because
there's a lot of voices from Satan and demonic forces
that are lying and screaming in our ears. What do
you say?

S10 (52:16):
I say what Andrew Murray said, do what God says
is your work and that is humble yourself. Trust him
to do what he says is his work. He will
exalt you in due time if you will obey him.
Again I go back to Gethsemane. Not my will, but yours. And.

(52:38):
And that is the full rock ribbed. Trust that God
is good. First of all, that he is sovereign. Second
of all, that he is at work in whatever this
thing is that you don't want to be stuck in.
Third of all, and your work is to humble yourself

(52:59):
and to say, I can't do this, I need, I
need your help, God. And that then invites other people
in to talk with Tommy and Kevin yesterday about, you know,
hospitality of weakness, that our weakness is the very place,
the entree for not only God to work in us,
but then to connect us with the people that are

(53:21):
around us who really care about us.

S2 (53:23):
I love it. Chris, this is an important topic. There's
no more important topic. I mean, Andrew Murray says humility
is the one virtue that gives birth to every other virtue.
You've you've tested that. It's true, isn't it, my man?

S10 (53:40):
Yeah it is. And and but it's hard. It's hard
to lean into that because everything in me wants to. Well,
I want to do this and I want to get
another expert. And I want to remediate again, you know, and,
and spend a lot more money on this thing because
I want to salvage this thing. It's like, no, no,
walk away in humility. Allow God to do in you

(54:03):
what you can't do yourself so that through you he
can be strong.

S2 (54:07):
Yeah. That's beautiful. That's exactly what God had us talking
about today, Chris. I love you, my man. You're listening.
I'm glad to do.

S10 (54:15):
This, girl. I'm glad to get to to talk with
you early in the morning here. At least it's early
for me.

S2 (54:21):
Well, it's early for us still, but it's real early
for you. Chris, I want to thank you. You're listening
right now to a man that you might say, man,
that guy's got a radio voice. Well, he's got a
radio show. It's called Chris Fabry Live, and he's an
author of some great novels, great works, and we've got
a one stop shop for you. Some of you have

(54:42):
maybe not tuned in in the afternoon to this station
that you're listening to. Ours. Uh, there's an hour, uh,
filled with power and really cool ways. Uh, Chris is
not nearly as rambunctious as his friend Carl. That's a
good word. Rambunctious, but, boy, he is sincere, and he

(55:02):
brings in some phenomenal guests. You're going to want to
check it out. I just want you to, uh, you
you can check out novels. You can check out where
how you can listen to Chris and you're listening area,
wherever you are in North America and beyond. I want
you to check it out. Just text live. Just one
word live. That's for Chris Fabry. Live. You got it.
Text live to 800 555 7898. Just that one word.

(55:26):
Live to 800 555 7898. And Chris, I want to
thank you from the bottom of my heart. This is
this is really cool. I'm God's doing a great work
here today. Um, I it's been really interesting, man. I
had Ronnie Floyd on earlier, and, uh, there's something about

(55:47):
stopping to consider beyond all the hustle behind all the
beyond all the outward Christianity. It's those hidden places, those
secret places where God does his most powerful work. I'm
going to give you a final word, Chris. What's on
your heart?

S10 (56:03):
Well, the first step in this whole thing is to
see it. And if God is pressing down on that
nerve in your life and you say, slow down long
enough to be able to see it, then that's the
first step. That's a good thing. It's a hard thing.
And if you're if you're struggling with that again, it's
not a sign of failure. Struggle is a sign of life.

(56:24):
Lean into that and let God do his work in
you and through you today.

S2 (56:29):
Good word. Again. The word is live. LIVLIV2 800 555 7898. Chris,
I love you. Godspeed. Today. Oh, by the way, who's
on deck today? My man.

S10 (56:42):
Uh, Ray Pritchard and I are going to talk about
the flood in Texas. And how can God be good
when he didn't answer the prayers of those little kids
and the adults who were crying out to him? That's
a huge question for people today, and we're going to
talk about it.

S2 (56:57):
Thanks for handling the tough stuff again. Live. Live. To
find out how you can listen in your area and
check out some of these novels. He's a prolific writer
and a great one at that. Live. Live to 800
555 78. 98. Live 800 555 7898.

S1 (57:18):
Your shot of hope to help you through the day.
This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.

S2 (57:24):
Well, I want to take you to the school of
the lethal combination of the word of God in the
Spirit of God. And for years, I didn't understand how
these went together. And then when it began to kind
of gel for me, then I looked back to, oh
my goodness, the sailboat, the sea skimmer. I was a

(57:46):
young kid walking through a boat show in Anchorage, Alaska.
There's a foot and a half of snow outside. You
might say boat show. Yeah, we have a lot of
boats in Alaska. Probably because when the ice comes off
the lake, Katie bar the door. Everybody's going.

S11 (58:02):
I can imagine.

S2 (58:03):
Yeah. It's just everybody's pent up in the winter. And
then here come the salmon. Up the rivers and the
lakes are open and. Oh, here we go. You know,
when I started water skiing in the when the ice
would come off the lake, we didn't wait for all
the ice to melt. We would get out onto the.
We'd launch a boat from the other side of the lake,

(58:23):
bring it over to the shelf of ice that still
hadn't fully melted off. So the wind's blowing it down
to usually our end of the lake, and we'd crawl
out of that boat onto that shelf of ice and
do a water start right there.

S11 (58:37):
That's awesome.

S2 (58:38):
When we could afford wetsuits, it was a lot better.

S4 (58:42):
I could imagine it was.

S2 (58:43):
Because without wetsuits. That's a cold water, man. So got
this sailboat called the sea skimmer. Loaded that thing up
in the back of my dad's truck. Went home. And boy,
did I learn a lot about sailing. But, boy, it
relates to the spiritual life. Where does the Word of
God in the Spirit of God come together? Hang on.

S1 (59:06):
A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Allie is
in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.

S2 (59:14):
This secret for power to overcome where we're stuck. And
a lot of you have taken this quiz. Great. Thousands
of you. This is dynamite. But when you identify something
that has you stuck and it can fill in the blank,
it can be anything. It can be something very secretive.
Something that's been reoccurring. Maybe those around you closest to,

(59:36):
you know, at most maybe the world can see it,
but now you see it. But when you see the
power of the Trinity brought to bear on your life.
Look out, Katie, bar the door, man. I'm telling you,
God's going to get victory. He will. Now, we've already
kind of established the point. I can't go back there.

(59:58):
You'll have to listen to the show cast. We'll have
a whole portion on humility. And I even touched on
that with Ronnie Floyd. And we went there a little
bit in that interview. So go back and listen to
the show cast if you need to. But this is
the stuff. This is the engine room of the spiritual life.
We're talking freedom all week long. Humility before God is
the posture where power begins. I know it's counterintuitive. The

(01:00:23):
way up is down in God's kingdom. You want to
go to the front of the line, get to the
back of the line. I had a guy cut me
off in traffic yesterday. I'm moving a piece of artwork.
I'm moving a piece of artwork for my wife. So
I rent this because she did a big acrylic painting.
That is awesome. We got it framed at a good
shop and oh my goodness. But I had to rent

(01:00:45):
a U-Haul to get this thing, so I'm pulling out
from in front of the store, and this guy just
totally cuts me off while I'm trying to get get
onto the lane that I got to go on. And
I'm like, dude, are you kidding me? Um, and and
it wasn't a slight cut off. It was a full
on get out of my way. I'm in a hurry.
So I'm like, all right. And then invariably you pass

(01:01:08):
that guy at the next light and he's stuck, right? Great.
I mean, that's that's what happens. Yeah.

S4 (01:01:13):
You gotta you gotta take everything in. You, in the
spirit of God's help to not look over at him
as you pass.

S2 (01:01:18):
I did, I looked over at him, I didn't I
didn't give, I didn't give the side eye thing. I
just looked at him and I, I didn't even want
to catch eye contact.

S4 (01:01:27):
With him, so.

S2 (01:01:28):
I just kept on going. So humility says not get
out of my way. It says, no, God, make a way,
make a way. Here, humility lets God get in front
of you. Yeah, that's what it does. Now, I want
you to know that when you think about the interplay

(01:01:49):
between humility and then two other huge principles that are
laid out in John 14 1516, you're going to find
something striking here in John 16. He's going to go
on to tell his disciples, I've got I gotta go, guys.
Jesus is telling his disciples, I'm going to go. And
then he says, it's to your advantage that I go.

(01:02:09):
And the disciples would have thought what we thought, well,
what would Jesus do? They didn't have bracelets, but they're like,
what are we going to do without him? That would
be a bracelet, wouldn't it? What are we going to
do without him? That's a lot of letters.

S4 (01:02:21):
On a lot of letters.

S2 (01:02:23):
But here's what he said. He said it's to your
advantage that I go. Speaking of the Holy Spirit. That's
to come. And if you want to see the fullest
body of teaching on the power of the Holy Spirit,
it's John 14, John 16, and Romans eight. That is money.
It is money. But then you got wedged in here,
John 15, right between 14 and 16. See how that works?

(01:02:47):
So here's what Jesus said. These things I've spoken to
you while I'm still with you, but the helper, the
Holy Spirit, whom the father will send in my name,
he will teach you all things and bring to your
remembrance all that I've said to you. Peace I leave
with you. My peace I give to you. Not as
the world gives to you. Let not your hearts be troubled,
neither let them be afraid. You heard me say that

(01:03:10):
I'm going away and I love you. And he goes
on to say, I'm going to come again. This is
going to all work out, guys. But he's saying that
to us today. That's what's powerful about this now. So
the Spirit of God's going to bring to remembrance what
we've got to know. And then you find down here,

(01:03:32):
and I love to make reference to this, but I'm
not going to leave out any longer verse seven, because
he's talking about the vine and the branches, and he says, listen,
I'm the vine, you're the branch, you abide in me.
You will bear much fruit. But he says this in
verse seven, if you abide in me, and my words
abide in you. So there's a relationship with the Word

(01:03:53):
of God here that is absolutely essential. If my words
abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will
be done for you. Now you might ask a question
can we take Jesus at His word? Yes. Well, then
why would I ask for this? Did I not get this?
Here's what I'd say. When your relationship with the Word

(01:04:14):
of God is reflective of your posture of humility before God,
and then you're willing to be guided by the Spirit
of God, everything will come together. This is what's powerful
about the interplay between humility before God, proximity to Jesus.

(01:04:38):
That's noted best in verse seven. If you abide in
my words and my words abide in you, in other words,
we've got you know what we've got here? We've got
a marinated steak. This isn't just I'm, you know, I'm
sprinkling a little seasoning. This is a steak. In the word.
That's what it is. So imagine you are a steak

(01:04:58):
and you're plunging yourself into the marinade and it's just.

S12 (01:05:01):
Like, ooh.

S2 (01:05:03):
Now that word of God is working its way into you. Now,
why is that so important? Because the Spirit of God
cannot remind you of what you do not recall.

S4 (01:05:14):
Yep.

S2 (01:05:15):
He can only remind you of that which is baked
in to you. And that's the power of this thing.

S4 (01:05:22):
And that's the thing with the with the marinated steak.
The steak sits in it for a long time. It's
not like you just lay it on it, coat it,
and it's like, yeah, you lay it in it, you
let it sit. And it's like, the more time it spends,
the more flavor gets sucked in and it's great.

S2 (01:05:37):
Yeah. And I love Sunday services. My goodness I preach
every weekend. I love them, they're great. God can move powerfully.
But if that's the only exposure to the word, it's
like brushing marinade with one stroke on the outside of you,
a steak.

S4 (01:05:52):
You're not going to taste it when it cooks.

S2 (01:05:54):
No. It's gone. It's going to be baked off. It's
going to be grilled off of there. By and large,
you'll get little smatterings of something. But what Jesus is
saying here is, if you abide in me and my
words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it
will be done for you. Here's what I'm saying. The
flavors that you desire are going to change. Your appetite

(01:06:18):
will change as the Word of God begins to saturate
your life. You say, well, God's going to rip me off.
So instead of then asking for a beamer, I'm going
to get a VW. Sorry all you VW drivers out there.
I'm not trying to denigrate your car. VW is fine.

(01:06:38):
No no, no. Here's what I'm saying. You don't know
how that appetite's going to change until you're baked in
with the Word of God. But it will begin to
change your palate. And you are going to now talk
to God totally differently. You're going to be reminded of
what really matters, and you will begin to ask God

(01:06:59):
for stuff that is totally aligned with his will. That's
how the Holy Spirit and the Word of God works.
So let me illustrate it this way. I got to
tell you about the sea skimmer. So I buy this
little sailboat with my dad at a boat show, and
I've got a couple of hundred bucks saved up, and
he's willing to bankroll the rest at no interest. Ding
ding ding. I'll do that. So we load it up,

(01:07:20):
take it out to the lake house that we built.
It's not like we had Anchorage House and Lake House.
It was our new house on a lake about 50
miles outside of Anchorage. I get down to the dock
when the season comes and put that on the dock.
And here's what's on a little sea skimmer. It's a
very shallow draft, built for speed kind of boat. Had

(01:07:43):
it had the sailboat had two sails, a mainsail and
a jib sail and the jib sail, I got to
learn to work with my toes, to tighten up the
all the guidelines and everything that I needed on that thing.
I got to work in it with my toes and
using my toes to put the rope in the cleats.
And it was.

S4 (01:07:58):
That sounds complicated.

S2 (01:08:00):
No, it was fun. It was.

S4 (01:08:01):
Fun.

S2 (01:08:02):
So here's here's here's how it works. Humility is that
shallow draft boat. Stay and low. Stay and low. That's
that's the metaphor. The sails are only as good as
what's below the waterline. There's this thing called a centerboard
or a keel. Every boat has them. If you don't,

(01:08:25):
you're in trouble. Even a little canoe without a keel.
Who knows where you're going to go? So on this boat,
this little sailboat, we didn't have a keel. I had
a centerboard. And the centerboard has to be long enough
that when the wind blows, you don't topple over. And

(01:08:46):
the centerboard was just this compressed plastics, and it was
about 18in long. No, it was about 18in across from
bow to stern. That's like a knife, but it cut
down about three feet deep and it was about a
half an inch thick. But what that centerboard did was

(01:09:07):
it gave me guidance that the sail could then keep
this boat moving in the right direction. Without that centerboard.
I'm just doing circles out in a lake. That's all
I'd be doing. I'm going nowhere. The word of God
is what's below the water line. People don't see it.

(01:09:30):
It's in you. It's part of you. It's baked in.
You're marinated in it. The sail represents the power of
the Holy Spirit. The sail can't work without the word
and the word alone. Without the sensitivity to the spirit.
That God's going to remind me of this truth that's unseen. It's.
It's below the waterline. It goes deep. It's it's down there.

(01:09:56):
And I'm staying low to the water. And now when
I lift the sails and I've got the Word of
God below the water line. Man, I went places around
that lake that are just amazing. It got to the
point where only went sailing when it was blowing a
gale out there. I wanted whitecaps on the water or
I wasn't going to go, and I'd put on a

(01:10:16):
wet suit and here I am, inches off the water.
Stay low, keel firmly secured. I tried one day seeing.
How important is this? How important is this centerboard, really?
I pulled it up, pulled it up, pulled it up,
pulled it up a little bit more. And I found
out really quickly that without a centerboard down in that water,

(01:10:37):
you're going to tumble over. That's the word of God.
You know, it's one thing to be fixated on the
Spirit of God and look for all these physical manifestations
of what's going to happen. Let me tell you the
greatest physical manifestation that's going to happen. God is going
to guide your life as you have the centerboard of
his truth below the water line in your life, and

(01:10:58):
you can't do it without it. Humble yourself before God.
Abide in Christ. Marinate in the Word of God. That's
what abiding looks like. According to Jesus. And then raise
the sails of your soul, my friend, and he will

(01:11:19):
take you places you can't imagine. The Spirit of God
will remind you, prompt you with the truth that you
have buried deep within your heart. And then you ask
whatever you want in his name according to his will,
and it will be done. And it's true that that's

(01:11:46):
just the Word of God. Humble yourself. Abide. Stay in
the word. Raise the sails of your soul today.