Keys to Receiving More from God (cont'd)

When your faith pushes you, quit pushing back. Say, Lord, lead me as I move in this direction. Lead me, give me clarity as I move in this direction.

But you know what? Faith can't act until you give it something to act on. If you want to walk on water, you've got to be willing to get out of your boat. Hello and welcome to Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd. In our last broadcast, Pastor Paul began telling us about the keys to receiving more from God. He continues that theme today as he takes us once again to the life and the prayer of a man named Jabez. It's a message about faith. As we know from Hebrews 11, 6, without faith, it is impossible to please God. Today's message is straight ahead, so stay with us here or visit pastorpaul.net to listen to Destined for Victory on demand.

You can also subscribe to the podcast at Google Podcasts or wherever you get yours. Now, here's Pastor Paul today's Destined for Victory message, keys to receiving more from God. God puts you where you are.

You got to learn to speak to people, set yourself up. So if it is a divine appointment, you're ready to meet the appointment. Somebody needs you. And if you pack an attitude that day, they won't get what God wants them to get from you. And he could use somebody else, but you're designed to get a blessing if you walk in obedience and sensitivity to the Spirit. So you got to understand that your exposure is intentionally God working in your life. When he exposes you to people, places, things. And it works two ways. Sometimes the Lord, there's somewhere you want to go and the Holy Spirit will say, no, I don't want you there.

Happened to me very recently. Something I just thought I should want to go to this particular conference. I had said earlier in the year, I'm going to this conference. I've never been to that conference. Heard a lot about it. A lot of my pastor friends go and what have you.

And so I make it a point every year to hit some strategic places to get exposure so that I can come back and be a greater blessing. And so this was the past. I said, I'm going this year.

And the other day I told my wife, I said, suddenly I'm not feeling that. We hadn't bought our tickets yet. And we just compared and said, well, if we're not feeling it, God doesn't want us there.

Doesn't matter how many wonderful folk going to be there. If the Lord doesn't want you somewhere, you ought to listen to him and stay away. Cause it could either be about avoiding something there or it could be about, you're supposed to be somewhere else.

Remember when Paul was ministering during his missionary journey and he wanted to go to certain areas and the scriptures say in the book of Acts, the Lord forbade him. Wouldn't let him go. And I'm sure he was wondering why, why can't I, what's going on? But eventually the Lord gave him a dream. A man from Macedonia.

Remember that? Standing there saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. Suddenly he realized I can't be over there because God's called me to be in Macedonia. And so you got to learn to be sensitive, follow the movements of the spirit and quit trying to understand everything. I don't know why God won't let me go, but he won't.

So I'm just going to be content. Sometimes you'll avoid trouble that way. I've known people who said, for some reason I didn't get on that plane and the plane crashed. You got to follow the leadings of the Lord exposure. F stands for faith.

F stands for faith. What is your faith pushing you to do? Every now and then something in you, when you see it, when you hear it, when you get exposed to it, your faith keeps pushing you in a certain direction. Look at how your faith is pushing you. I keep wanting to pray for people who have this trouble, that your faith is pushing you. I keep wanting to minister in this context. Your faith is pushing you.

There's certain people I keep wanting to call on the phone. It's like I'm supposed to tell them something. Your faith is pushing you. When your faith pushes you, quit pushing back. Say, Lord, lead me as I move in this direction. Lead me, give me clarity as I move in this direction.

But you know what? Faith can't act until you give it something to act on. See, a lot of folks want to have a faith that manifests first.

No, no. You move first. You've got to be like Peter. Peter said, Lord, if that's you out there in the storm, bid me to come. The Lord said, come. See, at that point, his faith now has pushed him to ask the Lord permission and the Lord granted him permission.

Now, what's the next thing he's got to do? He got to get out the boat. See, a lot of us say, yeah, you know what? I bet you I got to get out of the boat.

A lot of us say, yeah, you know what? I bet you I could walk on that water just like Jesus. He out there walking.

He said, I can come. I can walk too. And a lot of folks stay in the boat and write books about walking on water. Write blogs about walking on water. Tweet about walking on water. Facebook about walking on water.

And they never walked on water. Get your happy hips out the boat. That's my word to you in Jesus name. Jesus said, happy hips.

Yes. Get out the boat. You'll never walk on water till you get out the boat.

You can't walk on water in the boat. It takes a total commitment. I've heard from God. He's given me authorization.

Now I'm moving forward. I told you I'd never come to California in 1989 unless I got in the car, kissed my wife, kids, got in the car, pointed it west. Everything was telling me, people were telling me, why would you leave? You're the heir apparent in your daddy's church. These people love you. You're a rare prophet who has honor in his own country. What are you doing going across the country to 34 people?

Makes no sense. Friends had tried to talk me out of it. As I was driving my car, tried to talk me out of it. The tires said, you're a fool, you're a fool, you're a fool, you're a fool, you're a fool, you're a fool. All the way across the country, tires just.

All the way across the country, tires just. But I believe there was a significant ministry if I went to the west coast. I believe God would not authorize me to stay on the east coast. I could preach on the east coast, but I wasn't anointed for the rest of my ministry there. I had to go where the anointing was pushing me. And some of y'all wouldn't be saved if I had stayed in Philadelphia. You wouldn't be discipled. You wouldn't be where God's taking you because God had a divine appointment. And you got to let your faith push you into obedience.

It's not comfortable, it's scary, but do it anyway. God pushing you to go back to school and your mind said, make no sense, you're too old, you can't think like you used to think. You wasn't a good student when you had a young sharp brain, now what in the world are you going to do now? Devil is a liar. If the Lord's telling you to go, you're going past those courses. He's going to push you into something else.

You enroll. You say, Lord, make these people accept me. Then sharpen my brain, Jesus. Retool me. Let me get this locked in, this knowledge.

Let your faith push you into obedience. And the G, G stands for gifts, gifts. What gifts has God given you?

If you want to know what God wants out of you, look at what he put in you. What gifts are there? He put those there. You're supposed to give him a return on that investment. That's why he put it there. So what gifts are there?

Don't spend your time fantasizing about gifts you don't have. Operating the ones you do have, that's where purpose is. And that's what Jabez has reference to when he says, enlarge my territory, Lord, help me to give you a good return on your investment. He was able then to pray for things and ask in the Lord's name. He was able to look at his burdens, look at the conferral, look at the dreams, look at the exposure, look at the faith, look at the gifts and make his life more significant.

And when you are kingdom first, then you can ask God for more favor, more access, more influence, more property, more money, more partnerships with people who can help you accomplish God's will. Coming up next, the rest of today's message, keys to receiving more from God with Pastor Paul Shepherd, who is senior pastor at Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California. If you've never stopped by our website, pastorpaul.net, I invite you to do so today. You'll find all of Pastor Paul's recent messages on demand, plus a host of great resources at our online store, including books and DVD messages from Pastor Paul.

You can learn more about the ministry and about all the great things friends like you are doing through your prayers and financial support. That's pastorpaul.net. And if you enjoy listening to Destined for Victory, we know you'll love watching selected video clips by subscribing to Pastor Paul on YouTube.

For more details and links to all of his social media, be sure to visit pastorpaul.net. Well, if you want God to lead you to new heights, you'll have to climb a few hills. Here's Pastor Paul with the rest of today's message, keys to receiving more from God.

I'm starting to get stirred up. I want to ask for crazy miracles in this season of my life. When I ask God for stuff, doesn't even make sense. What other folk who don't pray, don't have faith will say, are you out of your mind?

No, no. At this point, we have not because we asked not. Just go on and ask God, once your kingdom first, go on and ask God for what it is you need to accomplish his will so you can become noble and honorable and leave people with a good inheritance, godly inheritance. Stop being falsely humble, ask for it. Lord, in your name, I ask that you would bless me, enlarge my territory. He said, and then, Lord, let your hand be with me and keep me from harm so that I'll be free from pain.

That's how he ended the prayer. Lord, let your hand be with me and keep me from harm so that I'll be free from pain. Whenever you see the hand of the Lord, if you did a study in the scriptures about the hand of the Lord, the hand of the Lord does different things. See the scriptures, because our God is not a physical being, he is spirit, if we're going to describe, if the writers of scripture are going to describe the movements of God throughout history, they take our features and use them so that we can understand. So you'll read scriptures where it talks about the eye of the Lord is upon the righteous.

The ear of the Lord hears their cry. It's not that God has a physical eye, he doesn't have ears, he's spirit. But the writers are trying to show you God is spirit, but he does see. God is spirit, but he does hear you when you pray.

God is spirit, but he does speak to us out of his mouth. And in that same regard, the Bible says there is the hand of the Lord. What does a hand do? A hand accomplishes things that the will has determined. You see something and your will says, I want to pick that up. Well, your hand does that.

I need to move that chair from here to there. Your hand does that. So when you see the hand of the Lord, it's talking about the movements, the activity of God in your life. Jabez said, Lord, I want to see your activity in my life. I don't want you to be passive in my life.

I want you to be active. I want you to I want your hand to guide me. Take me where you want me to go, Lord. You take your little kid by the hand.

Come on, somebody. You take your child, your grandchild by the hand. They could go any number of directions, but you guide them with your hand. Jabez said, Lord, I want you to enlarge my territory and make sure I'm moving in the right direction. So God guide me with your hand. Let me go where you want me to go. I don't want to show up somewhere and you're not there, Lord. Guide me into divine appointments. Guide me so that I'm sitting next to the right person, talking to the right person.

Strike up the right conversation. Guide me, Lord. Because I declare to you sometimes you're just one conversation away from a miracle.

One conversation away from something that's going to change the course of your life. Guide me, give me divine appointments, make sure I'm in the right place at the right time, God. Guide me with your hand. The hand of the Lord goes out against the enemies of the Lord. Sometimes in scripture, you'll see the hand of the Lord was against them. But then you'll see other places, the hand of the Lord blessed. Then you'll see other places, the hand of the Lord blessed. He said, guide me, Lord. Give me favor.

Give me blessing. Hand of the Lord gave Nehemiah favor. When you read the Old Testament book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah was the king's cup bearer. But this man had a burden to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. And he works for a pagan king.

Jerusalem is about God's people. Why would a pagan king give you leave of absence? You work directly in his throne room. You're his cup bearer. You taste his wine and pour his wine. You serve him.

You are his butler. Why would a pagan king give an Israeli cup bearer permission to rebuild the wall of a city the king has no personal interest in? Because of the hand of the Lord. Nehemiah asked permission. In fact, the king looked at him one day and said, you seem a little burdened, a little troubled.

What's the matter? Why would the king ask that? The hand of the Lord. So y'all got to stop thinking people in control. We live in a world and it's easy for y'all to think the people in control, the big names in control, the CEO is in control, the president's in control, the Congress is in control, the Supreme Court's in control. No, no, no, they're not in control. At the end of the day, God is in control.

He can turn their heart any way he will. And so a pagan king says, what's the matter? You all right? And he says, well, my heart is heavy because the wall of my people's city, Jerusalem has been destroyed and burned by fire and they're coming home from exile and they don't have security and safety.

And he said, I would really love it if you would give me a leave of absence and let me go take care of this matter. King said, you need anything else? A pagan king. You need anything else?

What you need to do this? He said, well, if you write me a letter and give me permission to go into the king's forest and get all the timber I need, he started asking. You gonna ask me what I need?

Let me write you out a list. Why? The hand of the Lord. I need you to understand the hand of the Lord is with you too. God needs his people in the earth. You got to understand this now. God has chosen to use us.

Sure. God could use somebody else, but he's chosen to use us. That's why Jesus said we are the light of the world.

We are the salt of the earth. He uses us. Without God, we cannot, but without us, he will not. He does it through human instrumentality.

So it's up to you and me to make ourselves available and the hand of the Lord will give you favor. And he got to all the resources he needed. And the hand of the Lord also blessed Nehemiah to rebuild the wall in less than two months.

Incredible success in less than two months. God will speed up. God will accelerate. Speaking with a bishop friend of mine, we had lunch while I was on the east coast and we were just comparing notes as to what the Lord was saying to us. And I ministered some things and he said, Oh, that's a word from God for me.

Thank you for that. And I said, what about you? What's the Lord saying to you? And he said, the Lord told me that this is the year in my life. And in my ministry, he said, the Lord told me this is the year of accelerated acceleration. I said, say what? He said, the Lord told me he wasn't just going to accelerate things this year.

He was going to speed up the acceleration. I said, all right, brother, you go ahead on with it and believe God for supernatural things. Listen, God will let his hand rest upon you to give you favor and guidance and blessing and make you fruitful in your work. J Beth said, and Lord, while you're doing that, keep me from harm. Keep the devil off of my trail.

Keep the devil out of my house. Lord, cover me, guide me. Somebody need to ask God, Lord, build a hedge around me. The enemy hates it when your kingdom first, you need to be hedged in by the grace of God. Jesus said, pray. When he taught us the Lord's prayer, he said, deliver us from evil.

You've got to understand, the more God uses you, the more target you are. J Beth said, Lord, keep me from harm. Don't let evil overtake me while I'm doing a good work, while I'm building a reputation of being an honorable man who does great exploits in your name.

Lord, don't let the devil short circuit what's going on in my life. Keep me from harm. He said, so that I will be free from pain.

So that I will be free from pain. He hearkens back to, he said, Lord, I don't ever want to go back to where I've been. That's where you ought to be. That's where I am. Lord, I never want to be back there again.

And by God's grace, he can change the end of your story so that you never go back to causing pain or being in pain. And J Bez ended up more honorable than his brothers. At the early part of the race, you wouldn't have given a dime for J Bez even finishing in the top 10. He way back there.

Everybody else said that they're running and looking all good. Oh, but at a certain point he started praying in the back of the pack. Lord, I've had some setbacks, but I don't want it to finish this way. And God energized him and blessed him and super-sized his blessing.

And J Bez ended up more honorable than his brothers. That ought to be your prayer. Lord, let my future be brighter than my past. Use me and use me for your glory. Don't let me live and nobody was touched.

Nobody was blessed. Let me make a difference for time and for eternity. Do you want to make a difference in the lives of those around you? Take that first step of faith and before you know it, you'll be walking. Pastor Paul Shepherd's message to you today is this, your future can be brighter than your past. As the apostle Paul said, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

This month we have a very special gift to share with you. Introducing Pastor Paul Shepherd's new book, Lessons from the Vineyard. You know, even though not every Christian is blessed with the same gifts and callings, all of us can bear the same fruit of the Spirit.

But God will not work to develop character in us without our active consent, nor will he answer prayers to make us better people if we're not proactive in tending the soil of our hearts, creating a nurturing environment for a great character to develop. In Lessons from the Vineyard, Pastor Paul inspires believers to become attractive as we bear godly fruit that glorifies Jesus Christ. That's Lessons from the Vineyard, a book from Pastor Paul and our gift to you by request for your generous year-end donation of $25 or more to Destin for Victory. Call 855-339-5500 or visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. You can also mail your gift to Destin for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California, 94538.

And I'll give that again. It's Destin for Victory, Box 1767, Fremont, California, 94538. In Psalm 107, King David writes, Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. If you need prayer today, the Destin for Victory ministry team would like to join you in prayer.

From the home page at pastorpaul.net, use the contact feature to let us know how we can pray for you. And while you're there, be sure to ask for Pastor Paul's monthly letter of encouragement, yours at no cost or obligation. As I kick off this series, I want to say today it's all about Jesus.

That's the subject if you are taking notes. It's all about Jesus. I am absolutely convinced that in these closing hours of time, we must get back to the Jesus agenda like never before. That's tomorrow when Pastor Paul Shepherd shares his message, it's all about Jesus. Until then remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.