Join John and Brandi Belt as they share keys to igniting your faith.
The Transcription
Glad to be with you today. And I’m really looking forward to spending some time connecting with you talking about how to Ignite your faith in this season. But before we get started, John, would you pray for us?
Absolutely. Father, we just thank you so much for this morning. Thank you for your blessing. Thank you for your glory, Lord Jesus, we just thank You for Your Holy Spirit of teaching us leading us and guiding us billing us, Lord Jesus, we thank you for anointing us, to be your people or to be your servants, Lord, to do all that you called us to do. We thank You, Father, that we’re so privileged to be a part of your family today. We thank You for Your blessing and grace. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
You know, one of the things that it seems like we have been hearing from a variety of people has been this idea of almost feeling discouraged, and like the promises of God and maybe disappeared or been delayed or, you know, that was wishful thinking in the past season. And I know with the election here in the United States, people have gotten a little bit discouraged because maybe they had hopes or expectation for a different outcome. And then, you know, we’ve had the crazy, we call crazy Corona around here, the Coronavirus, you know, as things start to open, and they shut down and they open, you know, it’s just kind of a pendulum. And so that’s really today, we just want to help you, wherever you are, wherever you may be, or facing, you know, maybe even you have been in a relationship that feels like there’s been a lot of stress and strain. And you’ve been believing God for breakthrough, but it just has been years at this point, or maybe even in your physical body. You know, we want to encourage you today and we really want to Ignite your faith, to believe that God is who He says He is. And he’s going to do and fulfill those things that he’s promised you.
Absolutely. Yeah, we have no reason to be discouraged in this hour, you know, we had the God of all encouragement is with us. He’s for us. He’s not against us. So we have every reason to believe for a positive outcome in the midst of everything. Yeah, because he’s gonna bless His people right in the midst of the most difficult situations.
Definitely. And so as we jump in, you know, make sure you drop a comment, let us know where you’re watching from, let us know we can be praying for you and cheering you on. Because we know that God has great things in store for you, right? But so when you get to Isaiah 60, you know, I feel like I’ve been living in this chapter for a while, but Isaiah 60, starting at verse one, it says, Arise, shine for your light will come, and the glory of the Lord will rise or, or is risen, or will rise upon you, depending on the translation, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the people, you know, and I want to encourage you, because even though it might seem like the world is going to be covered in darkness, and the people in darkness, God is looking for you to arise and shine in this hour, right? I mean, he’s not looking for us to slink back. He’s not looking for us to stay at home kind of in survival mode, if you will, yes, you want to follow guidelines and do all those kinds of things. But it’s a mindset, there’s a mindset of either I’m thriving in the season, or I’m barely surviving in the season, drill important that we put on the mind of Christ, because Jesus, you know, he, he came so that we can have his mind we could at his heart, you know, his perspective that the same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead dwells in us. And so that same Spirit works inside of us, and creates in us some new people, for new people or new creations. We can put on the new man in Christ Jesus put off the old man, the old way of thinking, and put on the new way of thinking in the new creation in Christ Jesus, and be connected to him and put on the mind of Christ.
Yeah, and, you know, I really want to encourage you, especially if you’re in this place where it feels like promises have been delayed, or, you know, I know even for us, you know, we had big plans. I was so excited this year for 2020. I had a US tour hitting 20 cities to like doing a night miracle meetings, and I was so excited. So looking forward to it, you know, and put prayer into it and put effort into it and logistics and everything. And then, you know, I was gone. A good chunk of January gone a good chunk of March or February, the beginning part of March, we went somewhere and then we came home and it was like everything shut down. You’re actually at the NBA, Thunder game that got shut down, you’re right in the middle of it. We just, you know, a couple of weeks, we’ll be back to normal everything. But you know, it would be really easy for me to look at that and go man, you know, God promised me this. I felt like this what God was saying, and now it’s all over, you know, and get discouraged and doubt about it. But instead, I’ve tried to take it and say, You know what, God, I must have just totally missed it. I mean, it’s just the honest reality. I must have just missed what I thought you were trying to get me to do for this specific calendar year. And so help me understand what to do for next year and help me I understand how to, you know, grow through this season and build and do what you’re calling me to through the season. Because one of the big things we have to remember is that we are a sheep, each and every one of us, if you believe in Jesus, you know him and you can hear His voice. But at the same time, you know, in part, you hear will that play other parts, there are other things in the world, we live in a fallen world. And so all that’s just to say, you know, if you have the words from God, that you feel like this year have died, don’t give up on the faithfulness of God, maybe it’s going to come away that you never expected.
That’s why it’s so important for us to be flexible. You know, when we hit seasons like this, and God puts us in the world. And there are things that just happened. And so that’s why it’s so important for us to be flexible in all things, and just to find the heart of God in the midst of all the changes, and everything that’s happening, that we’re flexible before. And when God messes up our plans, then all of a sudden, our world is shaken. And then some people will get into anxiousness and fear and react to what’s going on. But God doesn’t want us to react. He wants us to connect with Him, He wants us to press into his heart, find out what his will is, and lean into him and trust him in the situation because he’s the solid rock. So as long as we’re upon him, we can’t be shaken. Definitely nothing can shake us, you know, so we need to stay flexible in the Lord, you know, and receive His heart and His plans.
Yeah, and you know, I was earlier this week, as I was in a place of prayer, I kept seeing before me, this miracle that I’ve been believing God for for a while now. And one of the things that I believe in God for us, is to kind of outside the box. And that is, the people that are little people, or the derogatory term would be a midget, if you’re not sure what that is, would grow into full size adults that, you know, we put our hand up to the size of full size adult they would grow into that. And an earlier this week, as I was in prayer, God kept showing me a picture of that. But what would happen is I would pray for the person and the miracle would manifest. And I started saying, God, what’s like, help me understand what what you’re trying to show me. Let me understand what you’re what you’re speaking to me through this. And he said, What are you expecting? I know that you say you believe it. I know that you want it to happen. But what are you actually expecting to happen? And it really challenged me because expectation is a huge key to seeing the miraculous manifests on the earth. But it’s the same huge key, I believe, to seeing promises fulfilled, right? I mean, there’s an obedience element, there’s a faith element, but you have to actually expect what God’s promised you to come to pass. And so I know that it’s it’s kind of a waiting season. For many of us, it seems like things are so unsettled. But don’t lose that expectation.
Don’t allow yourself to start expecting the negative instead of what God has in his best, you know, it’s easy to settle. And it’s, especially in this season, it’s easy to settle, but God isn’t looking for you to settle. He’s saying, Listen, I have called you to this promised land, I’ve given you a special place, but you have to actually expect him to go forth. You know, I’m even reminded of Jacob and Caleb are Yeah. Yeah, taken care, excuse me. To kill. Sorry, sorry. My mind’s attended things God, I’m reminded of when when the when Moses sends out 12 to check out the promise, before they go, that Jacob and in my mind is totally blank. So Caleb and the other guy. Hello, Joshua, I’m sorry. It was like, yeah, it was, it was for whatever reason, in my mind is just anyway, Joshua, Joshua, and Caleb, you know, they’re the ones that come back with this good report. Hopefully, it is amazing. It’s great. You know, let’s do it. We can do it. God’s on our side, and the other 10, you know, make it so that for 40 years, they’re wandering the roads or wilderness. But, you know, I think of that, because, again, right now, we’re in this amazing time in history, when we each get this opportunity to make a choice to say, I’m going to go with God, I’m going to follow him, I’m going to believe His promises. And I’m going to go forward in that, I’m not going to stay in a survival mode, I’m not going to stay in a place of just hunkering down with nothing to do, I’m going to go for it.
And try it. And we need to have that overcoming spirit. You know, God has all this overcome. In the bigger Revelation talks about To him who overcomes I will get my Whitestone To him who overcomes I will make him a pillar in the tip of oh my god, To him who overcomes I will let him take of the tree of life, you know, so it’s to the overcomers. It’s not the those who give up. You never give up. You always believe God for more. And so really, all these things happen to us to test our hearts because God gives us the promises. He’s the one who gives the promises to us. And he also knows what’s coming. And so he’s not shaken by anything that’s happening. He’s not shaken by the election. He’s not shaken by any of that kind of stuff? He’s not breaking a sweat over any of it. Yes, he really isn’t concerned about it as much as we get, or as people get, you know, okay. He just wants us to believe in for the promises that he has put in our heart, the promises of God. Because in verse Peter talks about how we’re partakers of his divine nature through his great and precious promises. So we always want to believe God, for the promises manifest, because we want to be a partaker of his divine nature.
Yeah, definitely. And not only that, you know, I think one other big thing is we have to remember that we are responsible for building up ourselves in our faith, right. And so like when you get to Romans 10, it says, So faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God, you are responsible for building your faith by hearing the Word of God and getting in the Word of God, you know, it’s easy to get distracted by the news cycle. It’s easy to get caught up in sports and athletics, it’s, you know, there’s entertainment, abounding. But what we need to be sure to focus on is the promises and the word of God and say, You know what God has given me these promises. And it’s not just because of my wishful thinking, they’re going to come to have, you know, come to pass, my faith is going to bring them to the now my faith is going to bring them into the realm that we live in. And that’s going to be married with my expectation, but I’m not going to have an expectation. If I don’t know who God is. And the way I’m going to know the reality of God is getting in the Word of God, say, what’s the nature of God? What’s the character of God? How did he act? How did he love? How did he serve, you know, and then that’s what we get to do. And so in this season, you know, don’t get caught up in everything, even though we’re entering holiday time, you know, don’t get caught up in all this stuff. It’s easy to go that direction, what we want to make sure that we do is go low, and get in the Word of God go down. So you know, but I don’t understand. I don’t understand why maybe some of those things didn’t work out the way I expected. But instead of getting discouraged, you have to get into the Word and really trust what God’s doing. I try.
And also I want to encourage you to get into worship. Just get on the couch, turn on the worship music, let it go for an hour and just hang there in the presence of God and just pray in the Spirit. Or if you don’t bring the spirit, just pray, or worship and just engage with God, just hang out with him, just spend time with him. Don’t have any agenda, except just to worship him to love on him. And I guarantee he’s going to speak to you in those times. You don’t need to make a big, elaborate spiritual workout, you just hang out with God. And he really just wants to draw us to him says draw near to me, and I’ll draw near to you, Jesus said, Come to me, you are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Come and take my yoke upon you, you know, and you’ll find rest for your souls. So we want to receive that yoke of Jesus. Because it’s an easy yoke. It says, My yoke is easy. My burden is light, come to me. And so we want to engage with God. And that time it will be refreshing to you, it’d be refreshing to your soul.
Yeah. And like John brought up pray the Spirit in Jude it says, build yourself up in your most holy faith, praying in the Spirit, right? And so even if you don’t pray in the Spirit, and that’s something you want, drop a comment, let us know, we want to pray for you. And believing that you’ll get that gift, you know, as we pray, but really, again, I just feel like we’re in such a crazy season, that it seems like people have been shaken in everything. And one other area I want to hit on kind of before we wrap up is your identity, you have to realize that don’t get discouraged and find your identity and everything else during this season. Because if you are used to working for God, if that’s like, if that’s your mindset, if that’s how you feel like you relate and connect with God is by working for him instead of being in relationship with him. What happens a lot of times is that work gets cut off. And now you start to question who you are. And I want to encourage you during this time, make sure you’re seeking God and say, God, show me how to first be a son or a daughter, show me how to find my identity in that place. Instead of all that I can feel like I can perform for you.
Yeah, that’s so true. People find their identity and their stuff, they find identity and position they find identity and power, they find identity and controlling other people, all this kind of stuff. But Jesus, he found his identity and you can see it in I believe it’s Matthew Chapter Four where he was baptized. And maybe it’s chapter three, where he was baptized by John. And the voice came from heaven and said, This is My beloved Son, in whom I’m well pleased. You know, so that’s where Jesus found his affirmation is just the father saying this is my son. Right? That’s that’s our affirmation, folks. And just being in the presence of God and hearing the voice of God saying You are mine. And that’s where you have to find your identity. That is the core of who you are. Yeah. And so as we enter kind of the the tail end of this year, believing that next year, you know, the world is going to be opened up Again, I would just really encourage you and challenge you to get yourself in a place before the year is over to say, You know what, God, I feel solid in my identity. I feel like I am believing you for those things that you have for me. And I also, you know, am focused on going where you’ve called me to go. And I’m not going to be distracted by all the options in the world. I’m not going to be discouraged because of what may or may not have happened this year. But I’m going to really set my focus on you.
So Father, we just thank you for this morning. We thank you for your people, Lord. And we just thank You that they find the peace of God that passes all understanding. You promised Lord, that we offer up our prayers and petitions to you with thanksgiving, Father, that the peace of God that passes all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, and we thank You today in the name of Jesus for that peace that passes all understanding because you are the Prince of Peace. And we thank you for your peace just overwhelming us peace like a river Lord, we thank you for joy unspeakable and full of your glory. Lord, we think for the love of God poured out in our hearts by the Spirit by the Holy Spirit for which you have given to us as a deposit, we thank you for the Holy Spirit. Coming in a fresh, new way, this overwhelming us with a waves of your presence today, in the name of Jesus, we thank you for that. We give you glory, we thank you for your direction. We thank you for your wisdom. We have a number of strategies for your people, more than they know exactly what to do. Spend time with you, first of all, and then also that you give them blueprint and strategy, or Jesus for the plan that you have for their lives. And we thank you for this is an awesome season for those who know the Lord and we are here blessing for the blessing of the Lord makes one rich and asked him sorry to hear we thank You, Lord, that we live by the blessing of God. And we thank You for Your blessing today. In the name of Jesus. everybody said amen. Amen.