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Our free digital School of the Word and Spirit classes are now in session in the School of Prayer. Today we focus on taking refuge in God. Taking refuge in God.
A few preliminary thoughts. I was talking to my pastor about college. I was only going to college to honor my parents. I just wanted to read the Word and pray and preach the Gospel. I said, Brother George, what do I do when I get out in four years? And he said Psalm 119 105. He knew I memorized a lot of scripture.
So he just gave the reference. And he said, look, in ancient days, a lamp was just like a candle. You have a little oil lamp, but it only shows you one step at a time. And of course, I had no clue the path to God would take me on and ultimately getting a doctorate in Semitic languages, etc.
And that being part of my calling in life to have that educational background. But as we walk in the Lord, it's one step at a time. So in ancient times candles only going to show you this.
I'm going to show you 100 feet, 1000 feet, a mile down the way. And what we need to do in principle is do the work that God gives us to do today. And then tomorrow you wake up and do the will of God today. And tomorrow you wake up and do the will of God today.
And you'll find yourself going where you're supposed to go. And if you're not confident that you can hear God's voice. If you're not confident that you're being led by Spirit, then ask a question. Do you believe that God can direct the paths of even an unsafe person for his purposes? I don't think he's going to force that person to become a believer. But do you believe that God has the power and the wisdom to get an unsafe person to do a certain thing at a certain time? Or maybe a non-believer is going to say yes to hiring you at a job or yes to giving you a loan or something like that.
We all believe that God can orchestrate things like that. So say, Lord, I'm your kid. I'm your child. Lead me. Guide me. Just say, Lord, you take over. I don't know what to do. I'm asking you to guide my steps. And you'd be amazed with what happens. You'll often find that many times he's leading us and guiding us in ways beyond our knowledge.
Okay, just wanted to throw that out, some preliminary thoughts. I quoted earlier in the week, Psalm 42, one is the deer pants for streams of water. So my soul pants for you, my God. There's another aspect of our relationship with God in prayer where we feel burdened. We're weighed down by the pain, the suffering of this world, by the pain, the suffering of our own bodies, by the pain, the suffering of those that we love. And there's only one place we can go.
There's only one place, and that's to God, that we have no other alternative or hope. I was praying the other day, and I thought of the words of the disciples to Jesus in John 6. He's talking about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, and all the other disciples leave, and the crowds, and it's just them.
And he says, you're going to leave also. Peter says, where are we going to go? You have the words of eternal life. We don't necessarily understand everything you're saying, but where else are we going to go?
We know who you are. You alone have the words of eternal life. And I was saying that to the Lord the other night, where else am I going to go?
What else can I do but to go to you? That's true for all of our lives, in terms of the ultimate meaning of life, and purpose, and destiny, and plan. Where else are we going to go, Lord, but to you? Without him, there is no meaning, there is no purpose, there is no destiny. It's just stuff that happens, just like a rock laying on the side of the road. There's no purpose or destiny.
It just is. Thankfully, we're God's kids. We're not rocks on the side of the road. And he wants us to come to him with the pain, with the burden, with the concern, with the weight. So sometimes we put all our eggs in the basket of what we can do ourselves in prayer, and I'm going to make this happen, as opposed to I'm bringing my prayers to God. I'm bringing my burden to God. Have you ever been overwhelmed by the pain and suffering in the world, or the pain and suffering in your own body, or the pain and suffering of someone you love that's near you?
It's more than we can take. Look, God is God. We are little, frail human beings, but he knows right now everyone hurting all around the world.
Babies dying of starvation, kids suffering from cancer, and a cancer were at three years old, parents mourning and grieving. He knows all the sorrow, everything happened, all the injustice. He knows it.
He alone can carry it. We get hit by it. It's overwhelming.
What do you do? You go to God with your burden. Oh, God, it hurts. God, I've never known pain like this. You lose a love when there's like a hole inside of you. Sometimes oppression of the enemy is intense.
You're overwhelmed with fears. Pressure can be finances crushing down on you, and it's unrelenting every second. You take it to God. Take the burden. Take the pain. Take the weight.
Give it to him. Surely, he has carried our sicknesses and our pains. Isaiah 53, with a literal application to physical sickness, as you see in Matthew 8, 16, and 17, and with a spiritual application as well. The brokenhearted come to him. He's near to the brokenhearted and the contrite.
He comes to set the captives free. So you're overwhelmed. Don't keep it to yourself. God, I'm hurting. God, this is too big for me.
I'm in over my head. I'm asking you to carry this. I'm asking you to lift this. What does Jesus say in Matthew 11, 28? Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I'll give you rest.
Learn of me. Take my yoke upon you, for I'm meek and lowly in heart, and you'll find rest for yourselves, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And he's saying it, especially in the context, which goes right into Matthew 12, in contrast with the religious traditions of people, where it's another weight and another weight and another weight and another weight put on us. So come to him with the pain. Come to him with the burden. This is how we take refuge in him. I prayed sometimes and just tried to picture myself running into a cave. It's terrible, terrible weather, and you're out just by yourself in the will. Okay, run into a cave, and it's stormy out there.
It's rainy out there, but it's safe in here. And I just put myself, God, I take refuge in you. I run to you. I run to you and hide.
I run to you and find safety. So when we look at specific situations near us, we think a lot of times, I can't fix this. I cannot fix this.
And then you look at global problems. It's like, okay, forget it, forget it. What I can do is go to God and take refuge in God and say, Lord, this is too big for me. This is too much for me. I am a frail human being. I am not God. I am not Superman, Superwoman.
I am just your kid. And I'm frail, and I have needs, and I'm afraid, and I'm burdened, and I'm ready to quit. Whatever it is you're going through, he knows anyway. And you cast it on him.
You cast it on him. And many times what it means is he gives you peace in the storm. The storm is still out there, but you have peace in the midst of it. Sometimes he quiets the storm. Sometimes he gives you supernatural grace to rise above it.
We will pass through deep waters and be in over our head. It's going to happen in your walk with the Lord. Some of you have stepped out in faith. You're launching new ministries. You've endeavored to do things the Lord's called you to do.
You put all your money in an investment, and if it doesn't come through, you're going to go bankrupt. And you've done it to the best of your knowledge, to obedience to God. But you're in over your head, God. I'm throwing this all on you because I'm doing this for you. I'm doing this in you.
I'm doing this because of you. But we will, all of us, one way or another, through life, will pass through deep waters. But if we walk with him, they won't overflow us. They won't overwhelm us.
All of us, Isaiah 43 2, a promise to Israel, but with spiritual application to us, we will walk through fire. Count on it. Count on it. You will walk through fiery trials.
Count on it. But you can walk through them without being burned. How? Because God's with you. Okay, right now, I'm burning and I'm drowning.
All right, God, I need your help because I'm going under and I can't do this on my own. Oh, I got to be honest. I do not like those moments when the despair is so heavy, when the weight is so heavy, when the burden is so heavy that you come to the end of yourself. I don't like that. It's painful. You want to be able to do something. You want to be able to just make some decision or figure out something, and it's like, I'm at the end of myself. But when it happens, as uncomfortable as it is, as difficult as it is, when it happens, what do you know? You know that this is when God steps in, that the end for us is the beginning of God's working.
And many times, that's what it takes to get to that point. I have no other place to go. I have no other hope. I have no other rock. I have no other refuge.
Nothing else I can do, nowhere else I can go. And that's how some of you got saved. That's how some of you came to faith. And now, in our own walks with God, this is what happens as he deepens our relationship with him.
We must learn to commune with God and take all the pain and sorrow we're confronted with in the world, take it to him, and leave it with him, knowing he's going to do something about it. Some of us sang that hymn probably from the 1800s, early 1900s, take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. Psalm 55, 22, it casts your burden. I think I've talked about the Hebrew. It's Hasheleich. It's throw it. It's cast your burden on the Lord, and he'll sustain you.
He'll never suffer the righteous to be moved. All right, we'll be right back. Are you tired of feeling run down, constantly battling colds, flu, and infections? Trivita's Elderberry with Zinc and Vitamin C is here to give your immune system the boost it needs. Trivita's Elderberry Zinc and Vitamin C supplement is a three-in-one capsule scientifically formulated to support your immune system naturally. Elderberries have been cherished for centuries for their wellness benefits, and now Trivita has harnessed the immune system supporting power in every bottle of Trivita's Elderberry enhanced with zinc and vitamin C to help you fight off colds, flu, and infections. Now is the time to boost your immune system and the immune systems of those you love with Trivita's three-in-one Elderberry Zinc and Vitamin C supplement today. To order Elderberry with Zinc and Vitamin C for yourself, order today and use promo code BROWN25 to receive 25% off your order.
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Trivita.com. Thanks for joining us on the Line of Fire. Delighted to have this time with you. Jesus knows the agony of life. He knows the pain of a dying world. He identified with the needs of people, felt more sorrow for others than we could ever imagine, and yet, according to Psalm 45.7 and Hebrews 1.9, he was anointed with the oil of joy more than his companions.
So he experienced greater joy and greater sorrow than we can ever know. Psalm 23, Now if she is shoveth, he restoreth my soul. We go to him, as we talk about taking refuge in God, we go to him as our source of life. Our very life depends on being renewed by God in prayer.
A branch must be connected to the tree to experience life. As for worrying, doesn't do any good, doesn't solve any problems. Matthew 6-27, Jesus asks, Can any of you, by worrying at a single hour to your life, instead of worrying about your problems, let the word flow constantly in your mind. The only way to experience the peace of God is if your roots are deep in God, which will only come by separating from life and meeting with God alone. And we have that inner witness of being his children.
So whatever we're going through, we understand we are not alone. You say, well, I kind of feel like when I pray, I'm just going through the motions. Well, maybe change what you do. Maybe it's too stiff. Maybe it's too rote.
Or maybe it's not disciplined enough. You don't have to do it the same way. Well, I always follow this. I once heard you use acts as an acronym, so adoration and confession and thanksgiving and supplication, and that's okay.
Maybe it'll work for a while, but you need to change up the order. Well, every day I start with the Lord's Prayer, and I use that as a template, but it's okay. Come at it from a different angle. Just start a day, just say, Lord, this is on my mind today. I don't really know what to pray. Lord, you just have a conversation with him. Maybe your Pentecostal, Charismatic will always pray a lot in tongues.
Wonderful, I do as well. But make sure that that doesn't displace sharing your heart with your own understanding. Talking to the Lord, Paul said, I'll pray with my mind.
And I'll pray with my spirit. I had one colleague who was very disciplined, very, very disciplined. He was very disciplined with physical exercise, with sit-ups and push-ups every day.
He was very disciplined with his time in prayer and the Word. And he gave himself 30 minutes at the beginning of the day for prayer and the Word. Now, some of you say, 30 minutes, that's nothing. Others say, 30 minutes, wow, that's a lot.
I'm not saying it's a lot or little. I'm just saying this was his pattern. He set a timer. Just like one of those watch timers. He set it. And 15 minutes of prayer, stop praying. Then he read the Bible.
15 minutes, wherever he was, he stopped. But that wouldn't work for me. I might end up praying 28 minutes one day and two minutes in the Word, then just get back to the Bible later in the day. That wouldn't work for me. But it worked for him.
Maybe he had to change that up at certain points. I don't know. But you want your prayer times to be personal and relational and fruitful. And this is where you're taking refuge, coming out of the storm of life, coming out of the worries of this world, coming out of the pressures, and saying, God, I come to you. God, I come to you.
The kids are screaming all day. There's oppression all around me. I come to you. Now there are times, and we'll talk other classes about spiritual warfare and things like that. There are times where even when you go to pray, it's still a battle.
But if we'll persevere, we will break through. Psalm 91, verse one. I don't think hardly a day goes by where I don't quote Psalm 91 to myself in Hebrew. And then think about the verses. He dwells in the shelter of the most high, dead in the shadow of the Almighty. God had Moses go in the hiding place, and God passed by Exodus 34, six.
There's a place we can hide where nothing can touch us. God came and pursued us. We didn't choose him. He chose us.
We responded to his choice. We're here because he wants us here. We're here to do his will. We need to be able to put our whole life in his hands. God's the ruler of the universe, the provider of all things, so really all I need is him. And if he wants to send me a business partner, or he wants to send me a media expert, or he wants to send me a life coach, or he can work through others, but if I have him, I have what I need. And he will either supply the needs directly, supernaturally, or through others. If you have him, you have everything you need. Learn to put all your eggs in his basket. Learn to put all your trust in him. Learn to take refuge in him. As for worry, Jesus addressed this directly in Matthew 6, verses 25 to 34.
So here are questions. Why fret and be anxious about life? If we could stand in heaven, if we could see the entire operation of heaven, if we could see the perfect organization with which it runs under God's authority, we wouldn't worry.
We wouldn't worry at all. It's like, whoa! You got everything covered, God. Sometimes I'm praying, and I'm thinking about situations where I need God's help, and I want to go through this angle, this angle. I think God knows the angles better than I do. He knows a thousand angles that I'm not even thinking about.
I'm just going to trust him. Matthew 6, 33, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Are we afraid that if we really seek God earnestly and put him first that he'll forget about our natural needs?
Is that what we think? So I got to cover all the bases. Seek him first. Seek him first. God knows what we need before we ask it, and he's committed to providing for us. Philippians 4, 6 through 7, some of these verses we've quoted before.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your request to God on the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Messiah Jesus. Psalm 50, 12, God says, If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine and all that is in it. Jeremiah 10, 23, Lord, I know that people's lives are not their own.
It is not for them to direct their steps. We're talking about Almighty God. Israel was told to get manna first thing in the morning, Exodus 16, 22. It's helpful to start the day with God.
I'm a late-night person, but over the years I've sought more, especially in recent months, to reorient my life, even if it's not the bulk of my prayer time, to start in communion with God before I get to anything else, and then later in the day spend more time, but it's a good pattern. Psalm 63, 1, I seek you earnestly. In the Hebrew, I seek you early. We need to use wisdom in life while trusting that God's big enough to handle our lives. 1 Peter 5, 6 and 7, Humble yourselves before the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. As a Bible teacher pointed out decades ago, God, it doesn't say because he cares for the work, but he cares for you.
God just doesn't care for the work of ministry we do for him. He cares for us. He's almighty, and he loves us.
Once we know that, worry and fret go out the door. Isaiah 26, 3, You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. Our mental inclination is supported on God. He will keep us in peace. He's not afraid. Psalm 112, 7, the righteous person. He's not afraid of bad news. His heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. Do you know in your heart of hearts that God is almighty God?
If not, obviously, you've really got to get to know him. Read the Bible. Ask him to open your eyes to see. Show him areas where you've been hurt. Maybe get with some friends that are more mature in the Lord and ask them to help you.
Check out resources we have, free resources on the website that may be of help. Let's say to all those who can answer these questions with a yes. Do you in your heart of hearts believe that God is almighty?
Yes, okay. Do you believe in your heart of hearts that he's good, that the ultimate expression of God's nature is in the cross? Yeah, okay, believe that. Do you believe that he loves you?
Some of you are struggling with that. Okay, sometimes I'm unlovable, but I believe he loves me. I believe he loves me. Do you believe he wants what's best for you? In your heart of hearts, do you believe almighty God, who is good, he wants what's best for you?
If so, then be at peace and learn to take refuge in him. And for me sometimes it's like Psalm 91, going through it every day. Every day. John 15, going through it every day. Every day, especially verses one through nine or so.
Every day. And then get in my heart, get in my mind, and then just spending time with him. So it's like if you stay in the water long enough, you'll get wet, you'll get drenched. Stay with him in his presence. You'll develop that faith. Your prayer life will deepen. Hey, one more reminder. We send out weekly updates, latest videos, latest articles. It's free. Go to TheLineOfFire.org. Click subscribe.
This is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for tuning in. Just a reminder that we are listener supported. If we have been a blessing to you, if you're being enriched in the word, in prayer, in your own walk with God through this broadcast, then stand with us so that we can reach many, many more and bless many, many more. Together, friends, we're making a difference. So go to TheLineOfFire.org. TheLineOfFire.org and click donate.
