Transcription
God is a prayer-answering God, isn't he? God is a prayer-answering God.
James chapter 1 verse 1 says, "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into different types of diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work that be perfect and entire wanting nothing. And if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. But let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways."
I want you to just share with somebody before you sit down, offend them just a little bit, shout at them, tell them, "Don't lose your mind." You can be seated in the presence of the Lord. Don't lose your mind.
You know, the book of uh Proverbs is a book and a collective of writings that gives us wisdom and it speaks to us in a very practical way. And when I look at the book of James, I see the book of James as the New Testament book of Proverbs because if you just want to know how to live out this Christian walk, and if you want to know what walking with God looks like, the book of James is just practical teachings to show us how to walk through this journey. Somebody shout, "It's a journey."
Oh, listen, though. I know when you first come to the Lord and you come and you repent of your sins and you get baptized, you're saved. But then, after being saved, you're being saved. It's It's the sanctification. It's a journey.
James reminds us that the battlefield, our real battlefield, cuz sometimes we talk about spiritual warfare a lot, and if you come to a Pentecostal, charismatic, apostolic culture, you're going to hear that those strong words of warfare, rebuking demons, pulling down strongholds, and all of this stuff is real. I've seen strong manifestations of demonic voices coming out of individuals, but James tells us the biggest and the widest and the the greatest length of warfare is really not in an abstract field off of somewhere else and a high realm like the seventh realm. He tells us that the the real battlefield is in our minds. The enemy is not after your money because he got people that got more money than you have. He's really not even after your relationships. He's not trying to rob you of an opportunity as much as he's after your mind. Tell your neighbor, "He's after your mind." If he can destabilize your thinking, he can derail your destiny.
See, James opens by talking to believers who are dealing with pressure. They are scattered. They are believers, but they're having to worship without a temple. They're able to stay faithful to God without having a close-knit community. They are stressed. They are stretched. And immediately he addresses how they should think in trials because walking with God does not KEEP YOU FROM TRIALS. WALKING WITH GOD DOES NOT KEEP YOU FROM TROUBLE or storms. HE SAYS, "TROUBLES ARE GOING to come. It comes with life. It comes with being saved. It comes with living holy." But he says, "You must protect the way you're thinking when you're going through."
And how does James tell us how we should think? He says, "When you're looking at it, count it joy." COUNT IT. I'M SORRY. I AIN'T GOT BUT A FEW MOMENTS. I got to go back to my home church. He says, "Count it joy." When you look at it, joy. Hallelujah. It's a challenge, but I count it joy. Count it all joy. That's not emotional. That's discipline. I mean, well, I don't feel No, it's not about feeling. It's about faith. That's not emotional. It's a mental discipline. See, your mind will determine your outcome. Lay hands on your head and say, "Lord, save my mind." Save my I know my soul is saved, but save my mind.
James chapter 1:6-8 says that the double-minded person, the double-minded man, he's unstable in all his ways. What does it mean to be double-minded? To be double-minded means to be divided in your thinking. Instability in life starts with instability in thought. See, sometimes we want to do THE RIGHT BEHAVIOR, BUT INSTEAD OF FOCUSING ON DOING THE right behavior, focus on doing the right kind of thinking. See, you can't win in life with a fractured mind. See, you don't fall apart because of pressure. No. Oh, there's so much pressure on me. I'm falling apart. That's not why you fall apart. You fall apart because of how you process pressure. See, when trials come, trials will start think start attacking your thinking first. As a matter of fact, even sometime when you feel something in your body, the first thing it attacks is your mind. Hey, anybody ever felt something in your body, and then you Google that you got Google that online doctor, and that online doctor you had a little pain in your finger and that online doctor told you you got cancer in your finger and you got AIDS and you're going to die in the next 72 hours. James says when trials come, they test your faith, but the first symptom is mental. It deals with confusion. YOU START OVERTHINKING. YOU START HAVING anxiety and then you start having emotional swings. The enemy whispers. This is why I knew this was God. Thank you Amari for leading that song because the enemy starts to whisper. He'll start telling you God has left you. This will never work. You're stuck. I need you to look at your neighbor and tell your neighbor if the devil has been talking, believe the opposite. Believe the opposite. Satan is a liar.
Trials are not a sign that you're abandoned by God. As a matter of fact, God says, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world." I need you to answer somebody because somebody is asking a question, "Where was God?" Tell them he was there the whole time. THAT'S THE ONLY REASON WHY YOU GOT TO today because he was keeping you yesterday. I know you went through a bad season and you said, "WHERE WAS GOD?" HE WAS HOLDING YOU. He was CARRYING YOU. YOU'RE NOT AS STRONG as you think you are. THE ONLY REASON WHY you made it because he was there.
Trials are not sent to break you. Lay hands on somebody, tell them this was not sent to break you. This This major wasn't sent to break you. This marriage wasn't sent to break you. This child was not given to you to break you. This circumstance is not here to break you. God opened up the door for this job opportunity for you and although it seems like it's overtaxing, it was not sent to break you. Woo, I feel the Lord here. I feel the Lord. Huh, mama so we shy. It's not sent It wasn't sent to break you. They are sent to prove you. God is proving something in you. Hallelujah. I said God is proving something in you.
Don't let your pressure produce double-mindedness. See, a double-minded person believes today and doubts tomorrow or believes now and doubts the next minute. See, a double-minded person prays and panics. See, a double-minded person trusts God and listens to fear. James says, "Don't expect, if you're going to be postured like that, to receive anything from the Lord." And look how much God has blessed you in your double-mindedness. Imagine how much more God can do in you and through you if you get settled. I need you to lay hands on somebody to tell them settle in your faith. Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe I I didn't I when I told you to touch your neighbor, I meant to tell you to touch yourself. TELL YOURSELF SETTLE IN YOUR FAITH. I command MY EMOTIONS TO SETTLE in my faith. I COMMAND MY THINKING TO SETTLE. SETTLE IN MY SETTLE IN your faith. Because you cannot live, hallelujah, in victory with a divided mind.
This is why the Bible says in the book of Ephesians, when Paul is writing to the church of Ephesus, he tells them take on the shield of faith. He tells them to take on the sword of the spirit. He tells them to keep your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. But then he says put on the breastplate of righteousness. But he says you're still not finished until you put something on your head. He said put on the HELMET OH, THE HELMET of salvation. SALVATION IS NOT JUST ABOUT ETERNITY. Salvation is not just about GOING TO HEAVEN. SEE, SOME OF US KEEP WAITING TO GET TO HEAVEN. WE JUST THOUGHT SALVATION WAS JUST SO WE WILL ESCAPE HELL. BUT NO, SALVATION IS NOT JUST ABOUT ETERNITY, but it's about your mental security RIGHT NOW. YOU AIN'T GOT TO BE CRAZY ALL THE WAY TO GLORY. HALLELUJAH. YOU AIN'T GOT TO BE DEPRESSED ALL THE WAY TO HEAVEN. HALLELUJAH.
When you put on the helmet, you guard your thoughts. You reject the lies. Somebody shout it. Somebody tell it. You don't have to receive it. Just because you heard it don't mean you got to receive it. JUST BECAUSE YOU FEEL IT DON'T MEAN YOU GOT TO RECEIVE IT. Reject the lies. REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE. IF THE enemy can't get in your head, if he can get in your head, he can control your life. Transformation happens in your mind. Oh, GLORY BE TO GOD. I KNOW YOU WANT TO GET IT IN YOUR FEET. BUT BEFORE YOU GET IT IN YOUR FEET, YOU GOT TO GET IT IN YOUR MIND. HEY, GLORY BE TO GOD.
ROMANS CHAPTER 12 VERSE 1 SAYS, "I BESEECH YOU THEREFORE, BRETHREN, BY THE MERCIES OF CHRIST, THAT YOU WILL PRESENT YOUR BODY AS A LIVING SACRIFICE, HOLY AND ACCEPTABLE UNTO GOD." WHICH IS YOUR REASONABLE SERVICE. Be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind. Look at your neighbor. TELL YOUR NEIGHBOR, "IT STARTS IN YOUR MIND." Y'ALL BETTER HAVE THE WORD. YOU COME THIS CLOSE, YOU got to be able to preach. Hallelujah.
Transformation happens in your mind. He says, "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Transformation is not external first, it's internal. You can't change your life until you change your thinking. Renewing of YOUR MIND MEANS REPLACING THE LIES with truth. IT'S NOT ENOUGH. REJECTING A LIE IS THE FIRST POINT. BUT AS SOON AS YOU REJECT IT, YOU GOT TO REPLACE IT. YOU REJECT A LIE, YOU GOT TO REPLACE IT WITH THE TRUTH. MY GOODNESS. WELL, NOW I THAT IS NOT WHO I'M NOT THAT. THAT'S NOT WHO I AM. WELL, THEN WHO ARE YOU? HALLELUJAH. I'M NOT A FAILURE. I'M THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. I'M NOT SICK. I'M HEALED AND I'M WHOLE. I'M NOT BOUND. I'M FREE AND I'M DELIVERED. SOMEBODY SHOUT, "REPLACE IT." OH, I feel the Holy Ghost here. You got You got to replace it. It's not enough just to reject it. You got to replace it. You got to rehearse God's word. It's like medicine. You got to take it consistently. You got to put IT YOU GOT TO TARGET Use the word OF GOD TO TARGET THAT CANCER. USE THE WORD OF GOD TO TARGET THAT ISSUE. SOMETIMES WE PRAYING ALL OVER THE PLACE. Pray with target prayers. PRAY WITH THE PRAY WITH ABOUT THE THING THAT YOU'RE ACTUALLY DEALING WITH. HALLELUJAH.
All right. Cause your thinking to come in alignment with heaven. See stability. I KNOW I KNOW WE WANT tongues to be the sign of spiritual strength. And I thank God for tongues cuz it helps our infirmities. It's a prayer language to talk directly to God. But I want you to know what's What is an example and expression of your spiritual strength? It's stability. It's stability. IT'S NOT IT'S NOT BECAUSE YOU HAVING TRIALS THAT THAT MEANS YOU WEAK IN GOD. NO, TRIALS MEANS I'M STILL STANDING IN THE MIDST OF MY TRIALS. That is spiritual strength.
GOD IS NOT NOT JUST TRYING TO BLESS YOU. HE'S TRYING TO STABILIZE YOU. Before he builds something on you, he's got to stabilize you. BEFORE HE PUTS SOMETHING ELSE IN YOUR HAND, HE'S GOT TO stabilize you. BEFORE HE OPENS UP ANOTHER DOOR, HE'S GOT TO STABILIZE YOU. WHEN YOU GOT SOMETHING VALUABLE, WHEN YOU GOT A BABY, YOU YOU TAKE THAT BABY AND JUST DROP IT IN THE HANDS OF A TODDLER that's running around. YOU TELL THAT TODDLER, "IF YOU WANT TO HOLD THIS BABY, YOU GOT TO SIT DOWN AND YOU GOT TO GET STILL BECAUSE WHAT I'M CARRYING IS VALUABLE, BUT YOU MUST BE STABILIZED FIRST."
JAMES SAYS, "Let patience have her LET PATIENCE HAVE HER perfect work." NOW, WHY WOULD PATIENCE BE personified in a feminine gender? Because patience carries something. PATIENCE PATIENCE PRODUCES SOMETHING. Something is delivered out of the womb OF PATIENCE. WHAT DOES PATIENCE PRODUCE? IT PRODUCES MATURITY. IT PRODUCES COMPLETENESS. AND HE SAYS, "WHEN YOU LET PATIENCE DO WHAT SHE DOES." I THANK GOD FOR WOMEN WHO KNOW HOW TO COME IN A HOUSE and put a house IN ORDER BECAUSE WHEN YOU LET PATIENCE DO HER WORK, THE BIBLE SAY YOU WILL LACK NOTHING.
A STABLE MIND is a sign OF A DEVELOPED BELIEVER. DON'T LOSE YOUR MIND. Guard what you listen to. Stop rehearsing the worst case scenarios. Winston Churchill said, "I worried most of my life about stuff that never happened." Speak the word out loud. YOU GOT TO STAY CONSTANT IN PRAYER. THIS MONTH IN OUR CHURCH, WE'RE DOING A WHOLE SERIES ON THE POWER OF A PRAYING CHURCH. YOU GOT TO GET CONSISTENT IN PRAYER. PRAYER IS NOT AN ACT OF EMOTION. PRAYER IS AN ACT OF OBEDIENCE. IT'S A SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE. YOU DON'T WAIT TO FEEL LIKE PRAYING BEFORE YOU PRAY. HALLELUJAH. YOU GOT TO PRAY LIKE BREATHING. I SAID, "YOU GOT TO PRAY LIKE BREATHING. IF YOU HOLD YOUR BREATH, YOU DIE. IF YOU STOP PRAYING, YOU DIE. HALLELUJAH. THE BIBLE SAYS MEN SHALL ALWAYS PRAY. MEN SHALL ALWAYS PRAY AND WHAT? AND NOT FAINT. PRAYER IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR FAINTING SPELLS. STAY CONSISTENT in prayer. And refuse emotional decision-making. Hallelujah. Don't let anybody's storm become your storm. DON'T LET ANYBODY'S URGENCY AND EMERGENCY BECOME YOUR EMERGENCY. All things with prayer and supplication. Be anxious for nothing.
I want everybody to lift your hands and shout, I will not lose my mind in this season. Come on, shout, I will not be overwhelmed. I will not be divided in my thinking. SHOUT, I RECEIVE RIGHT NOW CLARITY of mind, stability in thinking, discipline in action.
Everyone stand. The Lord gave me this message and when I prepare to preach, I have young men and women ask me all the time, say, how do you know what to preach? Well, you know, I listen for God, I pray. But I'mma be honest, after I pray a lot, sometime I don't I don't hear the Lord says, preach this. And sometime I open up my Bible and go, woof. And then when I do that, it be one of them chapters that says, and this one begat that one and that one begat that one. And then I say, oh, I'mma go to Psalms and then it'll be David saying, Lord, destroy all my enemies, kill them, cut them into pieces." And I was like, "Okay, that uh-huh. If you ever want to know what God is saying to you, look for you. Look for you. Google you in the scriptures. What's you? What you're dealing with, where you are. Because what we end up doing, we like to keep shining our trophies instead of working on our weaknesses. I'm not telling you to glorify your weakness and elevate it, but I'm telling you be intentional about strengthening the weak places. Because God's design for us is stability. Your stability is evangelistic. It doesn't mean as believers we're never fearful. It doesn't mean we don't get scared. It doesn't mean we have all the answers. It doesn't mean we don't have questions. It don't mean we don't have challenges. But how we respond to them, people see Jesus in it.
The Bible says, Jesus and the disciples were in a boat and a storm came. And where was Jesus? He was in the bottom of that boat sleep. And it got bad. I mean, the storm got real bad and they said, they wake him up. "Jesus, don't you care?" And you'll go through a season of your life where you want to like, "Lord, do you see what's going on? Do you see what they're doing to me? Do you see what's being said? Do you see what's happening? Don't you care? Are you going to let us perish?" Let me ask you a question. Look this way. Look at me. How are you You to drown with Jesus in your boat? Really? The Bible says when they called Jesus, he didn't celebrate them for calling him. Yes, call on Jesus. He rebuked them. Because he said, "I'd already told you. We going to the other side. You didn't need to wake me up for another answer. I've already given you how this ends." AND WHEN GOD HASN'T SAID ANYTHING DIFFERENT to you, that means the storm hasn't changed God's mind. And you know what Jesus said? He spoke to the situation. He spoke to the storm. He spoke to the wind. And they says, "What manner of man is this? That even the winds and the seas obey his voice." We got that scripture not to repeat their scenario. We got that scripture to no matter how it's rocking, the boat may be all over the place, but I'm going to be stable. The world may be crazy, but I'm not losing my mind. Because my mind is the very receptor of the truth of God coming down from heaven to me. I need to keep my mind so I can hear direction for what's next.
The elders and the pastors are coming today. We're going to give you an opportunity. Maybe you've been battling mentally and emotionally, and you've been feeling like you're all over the place. And you're saying, "I'm exhausted. Not just physically, cuz some of your physical exhaustion is connected to your mental exhaustion. This is not This is not man power. No, no, no, no, no, no. This is Holy Ghost power. This is the spirit of the Lord coming on you, stabilizing you, riding your thought pattern. And maybe you've been trying to do life without Jesus. When we open the this altar, I'm inviting you to come if you need to be baptized, if you need to make a decision about Jesus today. We're going to open up the door for you to come. Thank you for visiting with us today, and I pray God's strongest blessing on you. That when you walk out of this place, you'll know you've been with Jesus, and you've been in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands now. May the grace of our Lord and the sweet communion of the Holy Spirit rest rule and abide with us henceforth, now and forevermore. This is in Jesus' name. Come on. Come on. Come on. God bless you, children.
>> The Bible says a man should not live by bread alone, but every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. I pray that something was spoken in this message today It spoke to your heart. It spoke to your spirit. It was not by accident that you landed on this video. May it be an expression that God is mindful of you. He sees, he knows, and he cares. I want you to stay connected. There are social media pages where you can like and follow, and you can stay connected to what we're doing and where we're going to be. And also, if you want to continue to get these messages, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel. It's free of charge. All it costs is an open heart and an open spirit. If you feel led to sow into our ministry, to connect and sow into what we're doing domestically and internationally, there are ways to give. And remember, when you sow, that seed may leave your hand, but it will never leave your life. This is Bishop Young as I am. I know what it feels like to want to stop and want to quit. But whatever you do, don't stop here. Keep going.