Don't spend time fervently praying about something. and then get shocked when God does it. If you are asking, believe. When you ask your daddy for something, believe you're going to get it. But when you ask anything from the Lord, believe without any doubting.
That's James 1, verse 6. And this is destined for victory where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard.
Well, if you've walked with God for any length of time, you know that sometimes His answer will be no. But as you'll see today, when we ask God for something, a promotion, deliverance from a disease or addiction, reconciliation with a friend or loved one, we should expect his answer to be yes. Without that kind of faith, our prayers can be hindered. Remember, you can always come see us at pastorpaul.net to listen to any recent message on demand, including today's. That's pastorpaul.net.
Our podcast can be found at Spotify or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.
Now, let's listen to Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message. It's time to pray. When you get through. Praying your best prayers, and you hear God work the miracle, and your response is, you must be crazy. That's what they told her.
Rhoda said no. Little girl's name was Rhoda. Rhoda said no. Yeah. No, no, no, no, no, I I'm not out of my mind.
I'm telling you, Peter's at the door. I just got through talking to him. In fact, I just realized I left him at the door. I got to go back get it. But it's him.
Look at the people.
Okay, she has persuaded them. That there is somebody at the door. They got that much. Look at these God's women and men of faith and power. They said, all right.
It must be his angel. Do you know what that means? That means they thought He was dead. And they thought That his spirit had come back in the form of an angel. While I'm here, let me get your theology straight.
When you die, you don't become an angel. That's what they thought. They hadn't been fully taught the gospel. They didn't fully understand what we've come to understand because we've had the benefit of the teaching of the apostles over the years, and they passed it down through the centuries in the form of the New Testament. When people die, they don't become angels.
Stop saying that stuff at funerals.
Now she's a little angel flying around in heaven. No, she's not. God made the angels. When you were an angel, you're an angel. That's all you've ever been.
Michael, the archangel, as all he has ever been. He was never Mike down the street. Let me help somebody now. Who that, Mike? Oh, I know Mike.
He live around the corner. Had a dog named Butch. I remember my no Where am I? Y'all messing up my message. Angels have always been angels.
People have always been people. When we die in Christ. We go into his presence. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. There, we will forever be with the Lord.
Right now, they're in a place the Bible calls paradise. By the way, they're not in heaven yet. The final abode of the saints. Nobody's there yet, in terms of those of us who lived here on earth. We will all arrive at the same time.
It's not like they'd have been there setting up shop waiting on you. They're in the presence of God. Jesus called it paradise. He said to the thief on the cross, This day you'll be with me, not in heaven, in paradise. Heaven is reserved for those of us after the Lord returns, after he has judged the living and the dead.
Those who are dead, who have already been in his presence.
Some theologians describe paradise as the vestibule of heaven. They're in the lobby, but the doors are locked. They haven't seen the golden streets yet. They haven't seen, we're all gonna see that together. We're all gonna bask in the glory of that together.
I don't know about you, but I can't wait to experience the glory that God has for his people. You can be all secular if you want. I happen to not believe it. Oh, well. You can stay in the Bay Area if you want, I'm going to heaven.
Can't even go to a Dodgers game without getting killed almost. Did you read about that nonsense? I'm going to heaven. at bottom line. Oudi.
Deuces. They said it's an angel. But since she had to go back to the door anyway, they obviously followed her to the door. Peter kept on knocking. When they open the door, all of them now.
saw him, they were astonished. Listen. The lesson, the takeaway, some of the lessons we learn from Scripture are from people's successes, others are from their failures. Here's a lesson from what they did wrong. Don't spend time fervently praying about something.
and then get shocked when God does it. That's the takeaway. If you are asking, believe. Again, this is prayer, this is requesting. God could answer to the contrary.
But it should not be what you expected. When you ask your daddy for something, believe you're going to get it. If he says, no, that's not what I have for you. Here's what I have for you. He's dead.
You got to surrender. But I, as a child, have a right to ask for exactly what I want. And I have the right to expect it knowing how loved I am. That's the norm. That's what I'm asking you to do.
As we pray, as we consecrate, when you ask God, believe. That's why we got to learn to not pray amiss. Don't pray for what you already know, he's not going to give you. Don't pray amiss. Pray To the best of your knowledge, according to the will of God.
So that when you get the answer, you're not shocked. These folk were astonished. That God answered their prayers.
Well, they should have been praising him. Be thankful when you get the answer. But don't be surprised. Cause God is good like that. I said he's good like that.
Some of us have got to learn.
Some of you all have been in churches where you were taught you never know what God's going to do. That's why they never prayed fervently, never had prayer meetings because, folks, when the bottom line hits, they really don't believe God's going to do anything. This is not such a church. This church has leadership that's here because of prayer. We came 20-some years ago because of prayer.
Came through the worst crisis of our lives and up again because of prayer. Devil's taking his best shot, and he's lost because of prayer. Thought he had killed our marriage. We're married, love each other because of prayer. Got folks fighting.
Christian people fighting. What God has done We're still standing because of prayer. Got somebody who has launched a crusade against us. You got nothing better to do than to try to turn people away from somebody God's hand is on. You got nothing better to do than create a whole crusade?
It's coming to naught because of prayer.
So when you pray, believe. Say, Lord, no, we don't want to see Peter go now. We know you promised persecution, but that doesn't mean he has to die now. That's what the saints were praying. Lord, not now.
They already killed James. Don't let them take Peter now.
Well, if you pray that expect Peter to show up Don't say Peter alive. Oh, yeah. You don't say. No, no, when you hear Peter's alive, say thank you, Jesus. I knew you heard us.
I knew you were going to come through. Yes, we have to surrender to the will of God. And if it's contrary to what we've prayed, then we say, so be it, Lord. Amen. But don't be shocked when God answers prayer.
And I want somebody to make up your mind you're going to the next level of faith in prayer. You're going to stop praying prayers you don't believe are going to get answered. Let today be the last day you prayed a prayer you don't believe is going to get answered. If I pray it, I'm looking for it. My grandmother, my paternal grandmother.
Had a child born, the not-so-kind term that was used in her day was a waterhead baby.
Some of you all have heard that term. And the doctor said to her, they diagnosed it beforehand and said, you need to abort this child. You don't want this child. And my grandmother said, no, I'm going to take this child a term. If a natural abortion doesn't happen, that means that this child is going to come into my home.
And my paternal grandmother had that child. there and raised her for years in her home. With no ability apparently to communicate or any such thing. And her condition got worse. But my grandmother, you know, sometimes your theology might not be perfect.
But your heart is right. And my grandmother said, But I don't know if she's saved. I see that she's dying, and I see that the Lord allowed her to be in this world in this state for this period of time. And if He wants to take her out of this world, that's all right. My grandmother said, But I need to know that this child is saved.
That was just her theology. She just wanted an assurance. And they try to explain to her, but there's no way. There's no way that's gonna happen. And she said, well, I'm going to talk to God about it.
My father said, All I ever saw her do during that period of time was kick her shoes off. She just sat up and prayed and talked to God and said, Lord, don't take this child till I know she's going with you. That was her understanding, and she needed the Lord to meet her at the point of her understanding. And against all odds. She doesn't have the cognitive skills to be able to let you know what you want to know.
That's what she was being told constantly. She said, No, I'm asking my father to let me know. And my father said, Before she passed. She opened her eyes and said Father, have mercy on me. And within a day or so, she was in the presence of the Lord.
And my grandmother When she heard it, instead of saying, What? She said, What? My father said My grandmother's response was That's all right, baby. The Lord hears you. Right in the stride of praying.
And believe in God. When the miracle happened, she said, that's right. Go on and talk to him. and go home to be with him. Don't go away, we have more of today's Destined for Victory message coming up next.
But we want to thank all of you for your prayers and financial support, gifts that help us keep this media ministry going. And if you'd like to join us in our mission to share the love of Jesus Christ with the world, please consider making a safe and secure donation at our website, pastorpaul.net. Or give us a call at 855-339-5500. That's 855-339-5500. When you pray, do you expect God's answer to be no?
Are you surprised when its answer is yes? Don't be.
Now here's the second half of Pastor Paul's message: it's time to pray. Listen, when God asks me, This prayer. Thank him, but don't be shocked. If we being evil know how to give good gifts to our children. I know.
Will the Heavenly Father bless us when we come to Him? If my kid comes to me, as both of them did as they approached the graduation of high school. and said, I would like a vehicle for my graduation present. My daughter, I said, baby, what do you want? When she was graduating years ago, when she was getting ready to graduate from high school, what you want for your, she said, a car would be nice.
And do you know she requested that in faith, believing? Oh, there was no doubt. There was no shakiness at all. I'm believing for a car. And when I saw her face, I said, What kind of car?
She said, you know, I've always liked. Volkswagen Beatles. And I think I want a beetle. I think I want one silver. She started describing.
What she wanted. Do you know her daddy went to the Volkswagen place? She asked for Beetle, he wasn't going to the Ford place. And she drove that Silver beetle. Until it died.
Yes, she did. She drove it all through that last few months of high school, and then she drove it all through college, took it down to LA to USC, and drove it all around LA, lived there another year after graduation. Then she said the Lord's sending her to Phoenix to live. She drove it to Arizona. And she drove it until it dropped.
I know, because it was just a little while ago when it dropped. She called me and said, Daddy. You understand what I'm saying? Ask for what you want. Brother took up the intercession.
And he's two years behind her. As he was approaching graduation, I said, Son, you've been such an excellent student. You and your sister both made me so proud. You've been excellent students, straight A students in high school.
Son, what would you like? He said, I believe a car. Would suit my need. Describe! the car.
Got The car. It has not yet dropped. Pray that God will anoint that car.
So when you pray. Believe. That you receive. Yes, surrender to God so if you don't get what you want, you trust His no. You trust his word.
Wait. You trust his silence. You never don't trust God. But don't let any mystery Any doubt Crowd into your prayer life. Feed your faith.
Starve. Your doubts. And believe God. What's the purpose of prayer? To bring the will of God to pass.
That's why you want to pray according to the will of God, to the best of your knowledge. And we don't know how to pray as we ought. Remember that. We don't know how to pray as we ought. Romans 8, Paul says that.
He says, so the Holy Spirit. Is a helper in the process of prayer. And he gives us groanings that cannot be uttered. If you have a prayer language, pray in the spirit sometimes, as well as with the understanding. I'll have to do some teaching on that.
Many of you have come from churches, you were never taught anything about the spiritual gifts except to be scared of them. If you have a prayer language, you need to pray in tongues. If you don't, don't let anybody tell you you don't know God. You know the Lord. If you know Him as your Savior, you know Him.
If all you can do is pray with the understanding, then pray with the understanding in faith. But if God's given you the blessing of the gift of a prayer language, Pray in the spirit. Pray in tongues.
Some of my greatest breakthroughs have come as a result of times of prayer in the spirit because I didn't know what to pray in the understanding.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit will give you a breakthrough And you don't even know.
Sometimes you get a breakthrough, you've been praying in the spirit, and you get a breakthrough, and you don't even know what you said, much less what the breakthrough is about. But you see the results afterwards. I told y'all years ago, I was completely out of my element before I ever learned to preach in settings where there were non-black people. Because I grew up just when I first started preaching, it was all black audiences, and I knew how to preach black sermons. And there was a certain style, we did it, certain style.
You know, and I'd craft that message just right. And then at the end, you tune up.
Somebody jump on the Hammond B3. Let's get this rolling. Let's take this on home. But I was completely out of my element. And I was going to speak for this all white.
Youth Convention. That was as foreign in those days. A position as you could put me in. But I had agreed to do it. I said, Oh Lord, I'm here now I don't know how to talk to these white kids.
But I was there in Kentucky for a whole weekend. And here I am in Kentucky for a whole weekend. I just got there Friday. First service is going to be Friday night. Then I'm going to speak twice Saturday, then Sunday morning.
Youth Convention. I was in my room, and I was just feeling like, Lord. What am I going to do the next three days? And I started praying in the spirit. And prayed and prayed and prayed.
I mean, the Holy Spirit just got in that thing, and I prayed for probably two hours in the Spirit. And when I got through, I felt a release. I didn't know what I had prayed, but I knew God had heard me. He had found that place of emptiness and dependence upon him pleasing. And you say, well, did Paul said, pray that you interpret?
I didn't ask for literal interpretation, but what I got was the sense that. God says, I'm going to do it. And I'm really not going to need you a whole lot. Said, now you're here and you got to speak. For these four services, you got to speak for.
I'm going to let you preach because that's what you came to do. But He said, I'm going to let you give your message. And then at a certain point, I'm going to tell you to stop. And give the altar call. That was the sense I had.
Just preach a while, just teach like you can, and what have you. You don't tune up at a place like that.
So no tuning up. And then quit. And that's what I did. Friday night, I spoke about 25, 30 minutes, whatever it was. And then I stopped and said, You know what?
I want to give an altar code. I want all of you young people who need to receive Christ as your Savior. I want you to come on down. They had a little altar there in the front that they had. Created a place where they could kneel and pray, and their counselors could come pray with them.
I said, Counselors, as you see young people come, just come pray with them, lead them to the Lord. Gay the alter call. Kids started coming. And they filled up the altar. And they were praying.
I said, Oh, wow, this is cool. Because I'm thinking, I didn't preach well enough for this response. See, I'm thinking it's about me. And when they got up, another wave came down. Fill the altar.
Kids praying, crying, tears streaming. They got up, a third wave came to the altar. Feeled it again. I said, what? You know what?
It happened all free. Four services. They were going up to their rooms bringing down dope they had brought to the convention. Yeah, here's what I came to do, but the Lord Why? It was a move of God.
If we get out of his way, God only knows what he's going to do. Pray. To the best of your understanding. Pray in the spirit. But pray in faith.
Believing. Because God Answers. Prayer. And it's time to get back to prayer business. It's time to quit talking so much.
I want to tell the church, stop talking and pray. Quit running your mouth and pray. Quit entertaining the devil and pray. Quit entertaining discord and off people. And pray.
You know what? If they can engage you, they got you. Too much going on in my life. Too much going on in this world. We got too many people to rescue from sin to be carrying on a bunch of church foolishness.
Pray. Believe God. And we're going to see him move in significant ways. How's your prayer life going? Do you need some encouragement in that regard?
You know, one of the things you can do to help your prayer life is to pray that God will help your prayer life. But you don't have to do it alone. The Destined for Victory ministry team is always happy to join you in prayer.
So please, if you'd like our ministry team to pray for you about this, pay us a visit at pastorpaul.net and use the contact feature to share your request with us. That's pastorpaul.net. You know, Destined for Victory could not exist without the faithful prayers and financial support of listening friends and partners. You are the lifeblood of this media ministry, and it's because of you that we can share the gospel of Christ with people all over the world. And now, with summer winding down, the past few months have been financially challenging for us, and we're asking you to prayerfully consider sending a generous gift to Destined for Victory today.
When you do, we have a great new resource to share with you. It's our booklet, Rising Above Offense. This is something every believer should read. You'll discover how to respond the right way when someone offends you or does you harm. And you'll learn about forgiveness, its amazing power, and what it unlocks in your life.
Again, that's rising above offense. Request your copy today for your generous gift to Destined for Victory. You can give by phone by calling 855-339-5500. That's 855-339-50500. or visit Pastor Paul dot net to make a safe and secure donation online.
You can also mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California, 94538. You might have a spouse acting up, but God can keep you. You might have folk persecuting you on your job, but God can keep you. You might have trouble in various areas of your life, but now that you're in Christ, you have access. to grace.
And that's tomorrow in our Destined for Victory message: Access Granted. Until then, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.
