Growing In the Prayer Journey: 7 Ways to Go Deeper in Prayer

On August 27th 2025 a mass shooter entered the church of the annunciation in Minneapolis Minnesota. This attack took place during morning mass, the transgender shooter, who called himself Robin, killed 2 children, and injured 21 others. I’m sure many of you heard about it on the news.

It was a terrible tragedy, and left the nation in mourning. As is often stated after a tragedy such as this, many were offering prayer for the victims of the terrible event.

But many did not appreciate the concept of prayer, the mayor of Minneapolis Jacob Frey said, "Don't just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying."

And a host on MSNBC, the former chief press secretary Jen Psaki wrote: “Prayer does not bring these kids back,” she said. “Enough with the thoughts and prayers.”

To a brief extent I understand their frustration. They are assuming that prayer is a substitute for action. 

For someone who doesn’t believe in God, which lets be real many of these people don’t, the idea of prayer is like talking to yourself, it means nothing, and it has no affect on anything. Many if not most in our society today view prayer in that way.

But how do you view prayer? Do you view it as something empty that we mouth to each other to make each other feel good?

Or do you believe that prayer is really real? I think we often don’t realize what we really believe about something until we sit down and think about it.

Perhaps you just look at prayer, and think to yourself, well I’m a Christian, but I don’t see much value in prayer, I know it says to do it in the word, but I just don’t understand the value.

There’s a key truth that each of us need to believe today: My prayers have the power to change reality on planet Earth.

Not because my prayers are powerful in themselves, but, because of who those prayers are going to, and how God answers prayers.

Well, if I don’t pray wouldn’t it just happen some other way? Because it’s God’s will? Not necessarily no. Think of the book of Ezekiel, God says that he looked throughout the land during that time to find someone who would stand in the gap in the wall for him, but he found no one, and thus the land was destroyed.

Your actions matter. Your prayers matter. Your witnessing matters. And if it’s not you, there is no guarantee that someone else will do it for you.

Jesus was so emphatic about the power of prayer, he said this, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” -Mark 11:24

We know the power of prayer. We’ve seen our prayers answered by God. We’ve also seen times when God didn’t answer the way we had hoped. It's a good reminder that we aren't God. But maybe we gave up after God didn't answer a prayer we really wanted Him to answer. I challenge you today to continue to trust Him and continue to believe in the power of prayer. Prayer changes the world.

 

But prayer is more than that. It’s a refuge, it’s how you make God your refuge. It’s air to the Christian. It’s like breathing. It’s how we go deep with God. Without prayer, we will certainly fail. With prayer, we will go to depths we couldn’t even imagine.

That is the secret of prayer. It leads us toward God, over and over in our lives. And in that secret place of prayer, we find complete healing.

Today we address the topic of the power of prayer in the healing journey.

Psalm 71 is where we find ourselves today. We know very little of this psalm, we believe it was written by David, and many commentators believe it was written by David latter in life, during the crisis of the rebellion of his son Absalom, but we don’t know that certain, the psalm is unlabeled.

It begins this way, verse 1: “In you, Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame.”

Every time we pray, we are making God our refuge, the safe place we run to in times of need, or in times of plenty. We run to Him again and again, because we believe that he will never let us be put to shame. In other words, we believe God will not disappoint us.

How do we make God our refuge? We run to him in prayer. Over and over. Daily.

But it reminds me of another scripture from the book of Isaiah, “We have made lies our refuge” -Isaiah 28:15

We as humans are able to build a web of lies around ourselves. Think of an alcoholic, someone who believes they don't have a problem, they build a refuge around themselves of lies, to comfort themselves against a reality they don’t want to face. When a truth about their condition from a friend or family member shoots in they are able to block it from their refuge of lies. 

With prayer, we’re expressing that we’ve let go of every false stronghold, every lie, and we’re simply running, uncovered, to the one true God.

So how do we pray? Do we repeat the Our Father, do we list off requests, how does it work?

First point today, every time you pray, you are making God your refuge, a safe place, and when you are in the refuge of God, you are in a place where God is able to heal you.

Prayer: “God you are my refuge.” Making God your refuge of safety is a choice. And when we neglect prayer, we are going out into the world in a vulnerable state.

Start the day in prayer, always. Make the commitment, I’m never leaving the house without praying first.

My morning prayer is this: First, I ask each member of the Trinity to be with me, Father I ask for your presence today, Jesus I ask you to sit on the throne of my heart today, Holy Spirit I ask you to fill me today.

Then my wife and I will speak several scriptures over our day, usually, “This is the day the Lord has made, and I will rejoice and be glad in it” Psalm 118:24, along with "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" -Philippians 4:13, and "The joy of the Lord is my strength" -Nehemiah 8:10, then we pray on the armor of God onto ourselves (Ephesians 6) Simple, ready for battle.

Let’s see if we can get more guidance on prayer from verse 2, which says, “2 In your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me;
turn your ear to me and save me.”

It’s clear David is in trouble during this prayer. Sometimes we only pray when we’re in trouble, or when something bad is going on. This is not wise. Because we’ve read in verse 1, we must make God our refuge.

But nevertheless, we all face situations throughout the day that require on the spot prayer.

Second form of prayer today, rescue prayer. Lord, please help me. Have you ever prayed this prayer?

It could be that your car just broke down, you whisper a brief prayer. Could be that you’re having an argument with your wife or husband, and you step into the other room, say I need a minute, and you step out and pray for the situation, God please help.

Quick prayers can be very powerful, in the right situation. Sometimes I just pray, Lord, have mercy on me in this situation, whatever I happen to be going through.

Quick prayer tip for the car: When you see an ambulance or fire truck or police car go by with lights lit up, say a pray for them: God, please protect them, have mercy on those in danger, spare their lives, in Jesus name, amen.

Rescue prayers are great for arguments, problems at work, maybe you overhear others in a dispute, pray over them, always keep in your back pocket the idea of quick prayer.

Too often we jump right into panic, or we get lost in our upset emotions, instead, take action, take it up to God, believe he will help you.

Next, verse 3: “Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go;”

Be my rock of refuge, to me I picture flood waters rushing through an area, and sometimes life on Earth is tough like this, it’s uncertain, dangerous, but, God becomes for us a rock of refuge, not just a safe place, but a stable foundation above the storm.

Third form of prayer today, daily dialogue. We’re building a plan here for victorious living. Refuge starting the day with God, rescue calling on God in trouble, third, thankfulness and praise throughout the day.

We slowly build these practices. We pray in the morning, slowly we do that, and it bleeds over into rescue prayers, calls for help, which bleeds over into praying throughout the day.

Soon, as we pray over meals, in the morning, at night, we begin to talk to God in our heads all day. We sometimes say things out loud. We get that package in the mail we’ve been waiting for, “Thank you God.” We pray over our meal, "Thank you for this food."

We talk to God in our minds while we’re at work. Yes, he can hear in there too. Lord, I’m struggling with this today. Lord, please have mercy on my coworker, help him to know you. And slowly, the day becomes a dialogue between you and God. It’s very beautiful.

Emphasize in this thankfulness and praise. We should express our struggles and difficulties, but we don’t want to be complaining to God all day either. Emphasize gratitude. Count your blessings to God.

Why is there value in this? It’s cultivating your relationship with God in a very powerful way.

As we go through these seven areas today, which one, or two or three are you going to work on in the coming weeks?

Second part of verse 3: “give the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.”

So we’ve seen David refer to God as his refuge, then his rock, now his fortress. And I think the same is true for us as we implement these prayer tactics throughout our days. God for us goes to a refuge, a safe place, soon he’s our rock too, even safer, soon, he becomes our fortress.

Notice the psalmist also says, "give the command to save me” he puts it entirely in God’s court. God himself is needed. He’s in charge.

Do you know that God is everywhere on the Earth? But more so, he is with you at all times. His presence fills you through the Holy Spirit.

Flowing from talking to God throughout the day, we will eventually come, as we develop it, to a sense of the presence of God with us.

There’s a wonderful book about this by a famed 17th century Carmelite friar named Brother Lawrence, called The Practice the presence of God.

He gives instruction like this, “Turn your thoughts towards God as often as you can. By small steps, get used to this small but holy exercise. Think of God as often as you can.

Make it your habit to maintain an intimate, humble, affectionate conversation with Him.

I may call this the actual presence of God or more appropriately, it is a habitual, silent, and secret conversation of the soul with God.”

Repeating a simple phrase throughout the day can be helpful as well, “Lord, I seek your face.” “Holy One, show me the way.” -Brother Lawrence

Eventually as you develop it, you will sense God’s presence around you throughout the day. This is a great joy.

Next, verse 4: “Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel.”

As we all know unfortunately, it’s not just us and God in the world. We face an enemy. The devil, and his demonic forces, principalities, powers, and authorities.

The devil, the word says, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. It says “resist him, standing firm in the faith.” -1 Peter 5:9

Through learning and practicing these different forms of prayer, we realize we must combat the evil one and his forces. So we discover spiritual warfare prayer. This is also sometimes referred to as deliverance prayer.

Notice the psalmist writes, "Deliver me my God!"

In all spiritual warfare prayer, we are seeking God’s help, and utilizing our authority in Christ, to command and rebuke the enemy and his forces.

But is the concept of spiritual warfare biblical? Look to our savior Jesus who was tempted in the wilderness by the devil. The devil came to him, and attempted to lie to him and tempt him to do evil things. Jesus resisted by quoting the word of God out loud. Then Jesus commanded the devil to "Go!" He didn't say "in the name of Jesus" because he is Jesus. But we must use that powerful name of Jesus, when demons come to tempt and deceive us. 

There is so much here, we can’t get into most of it today. The best application I can tell you, is to use the name of Jesus Christ. If you sense a presence near you, something evil, speak the name. If you wake up at night and sense a presence in the room, use the name. If you wake up from a nightmare and you sense something demonic you say, "In the name of Jesus Christ, get out, I command you to go. Amen."

Sometimes you’ll sense a voice that mimics your own internal voice, attempting to deceive or tempt you, this may be a demon, it’s not possessing you, it’s near, pouring in lies, you can very quickly rebuke this enemy, and cast him out in the name of Jesus.

As you engage in this battle, you can do all sorts of things, bind demons in restaurants, you can help people get delivered from unclean spirits, you can pray against principalities and demonic powers over your city, and target them in prayer. The Lord has used my wife to help deliver women from demons that were perched on them and deceiving them. 

Understand the enemy is defeated by Jesus Christ, we just have to apply that victory, and rebuke him in Jesus name.

Next, verse 5: “For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord,
my confidence since my youth.”

The sovereign Lord is our hope, and our confidence throughout our whole lives. And he welcomes us into his confidence. He doesn’t just want us to be a servant. He wants us to be a friend of God. It was said of Abraham he was a friend of God. They were so close, that God would invite Abraham into his decisions, into the most intimate parts of his plan. He revealed great mysteries to Abraham.

You can have that same relationship with God. You can be a friend of God. This is how. Through the journey across all these prayer roads, building one upon another, we come to deep prayer.

I like to have deep prayer times at night, but maybe for you it’ll be mornings or midday. This is a long period of time, where we sit quietly with God, and engage with him. He’s our refuge, our rescuer, we’ve learned to speak to him throughout the day, practice his presence, and engage in spiritual warfare. 

Now it all culminates in a long period of time where we’re talking to God, and time begins to slow down, and we begin to seek His face, and we start to get quiet, and soon, we’ve been with him an hour or more, and he’s revealing things to us. He’s whispering back to us. It’s hard to describe really, how this manifests, but you get quiet with God long enough, he answers. He whispers, through thoughts, images, words, memories, ideas and words spoken out loud. He even gives dreams and visions.

This is a great high point for me in my prayer journey. But it started very small. I started back in 2017 barely able to pray. I could do maybe 5-15 minutes at most. And I made a simple request to God, I admitted God I can’t seem to pray I get too distracted. I don’t value it like I should, Lord help me. Maybe you need to make that your prayer today. He will help you if you desire it with all your heart.

Things happen in deep prayer, or you might call it meditative prayer or listening prayer, that are life changing. You are meeting with God. And it’s real and it’s powerful. If you’re not there today, don’t mind it, start building and in time you’ll reach it. You’ll long for more. Begin that journey today toward this goal. 

Yet there is still one more point that I want to address.

Lastly, verse 6, “From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb. I will ever praise you.”

From a life in which we’ve relied on God, we understand he has all power over our Spirit, Soul, and Body. He brought us forth from our mother’s womb. He made the human race. He placed a soul in us at the moment of fertilization. Has has all power to heal us.

Every one of these seven prayer areas provide some level of healing along the journey. But there is a form of prayer, in which God will become our life coach, our counselor, and in particular Jesus Christ himself will meet with us, and heal us. He will do work in our heart, mind, and soul, and our bodies, to heal us.

Chelsey and I have a day each week, we call it healing Mondays. Each Monday, usually, though sometimes something will disrupt it, we will spend time that day journaling past hurts, praying, reflecting, talking about past traumas, and allowing the emotions to flow.

Usually at the end of this process we enter a time of prayer we’ve come to practice called heart guided prayer. This is a reflective and meditative prayer form, in which we meet with Jesus Christ, and he communes with us. He brings healing to different wounds on our hearts, or minds. God may bring up a particular area, have us address it, and then he’ll bring healing.

But it’s an encounter with Jesus Christ, for the purpose of receiving something from Him. You could call it reception prayer, because he is giving something, he is giving healing.

When I was a new Christian, I knew I had damage to my internal organs from years of alcohol and drug use, and without knowing anything about this form of prayer, God prompted me to invite him to heal my inner organs, and I lifted these things up in prayer, and he healed different parts of my physical body.

You may be sitting there thinking that seems a little out there, so be it. But don’t discount anything that God can do, he is the healer. If God prompts you to enter a time of healing prayer, simply allow the Spirit to lead you and as you pray, God will lead you to past hurts. And if God prompts you to do something, to offer up your heart, or if he brings up a memory, follow His leading. He’s leading you to healing. Trust Him.

Consider developing once a week a time where you pray and ask God to bring healing to your heart wounds. God will certainly guide you. But if you need further guidance, there are healing ministries out there that can help guide you through healing prayers. 

In conclusion, consider the Old Testament temple, consider the pathway to the most holy place. Remember, as you develop these prayer areas, see it as a journey, of slowly getting closer to God. From the outer court of morning prayer, to the inner court of practicing his presence, to the most holy place of deep prayer. Which one will you add to your lifestyle? Or maybe it’s more than one? Let God lead you. He will build your prayer life step by step into the depths of union with God. 

Review of Main Points:
1. Refuge / Morning Prayer

2. Rescue / Quick Prayer

3. Through the Day / Thankfulness Prayer

4. Practice of the Presence Prayer

5. Spiritual Warfare / Deliverance Prayer

6. Deep / Listening Prayer

7. Healing / Reception Prayer

Healing from Past Struggles: Let God take You on a Healing Journey

Ina is a famous Eurasian brown bear who lives in Romania. In 2021 a viral video of Ina lit the internet on fire with many sympathetic of Ina’s struggle.

Ina was held for more than twenty years in a very small cage at a Romanian government operated zoo. The room was so tiny she could only walk in a small circle, brushing up against the metal bars of the cage.

For twenty years Ina was held in captivity, until finally after receiving many complaints, the zoo released Ina to the care of the non-profit animal sanctuary “Millions of Friends” in Zarnesti, Romania.

The video that astonished the world showed Ina the bear freed from her captivity, at the animal sanctuary 7 years later, but still walking in the same circle she walked for twenty years at the zoo.

Trauma is real, abuse is real, and pain is real. And sometimes those pains and traumas that we’ve been through can cause us to get caught in patterns that are harmful.

For Ina the bear, she became trapped in her past traumas and patterns, and they held her captive, in an invisible cage, that no one could see but her, long after the physical cage had been taken away. (Thankfully after 7 years of this behavior, Ina slowly stopped pacing in the circle after being freed)

What traumas and pains have you been through, and how have they shaped who you are today?

Are there patterns you find yourself caught in, things you do but you don’t understand why? Maybe it’s simply pain, a heart shut down, a sense of disconnection from the world around you, a hardness, that you’d like to be free from.

Maybe you know the wound, you’ve carried it for many years, and you long for God to heal the wound and take the pain away, but no healing has come.

Perhaps you’re sitting there thinking, I don’t have any trauma. I’m happy, I’m well adjusted, my heart overflows with love.

If so, that’s wonderful. But don’t underestimate the possibility that there is trauma that God wants to heal in you.

And I know for a fact that every single person on planet Earth has been through a trauma recently. In the last five years in fact. That trauma is the worldwide pandemic known as Covid-19. How do I know it’s left us traumatized? Because the world doesn’t want to talk about it, many pretend like it never happened.

So we understand today that we need healing. And it’s a good thing that we serve a healing God, our savior Jesus Christ, one of his names is the great physician.

As it says in mark 2:17 NKJV “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Now it is true that Jesus Christ did not come primarily to deal with our pains and traumas, he came to deal with our sins. And his death on the cross secured us forgiveness for those sins. Yet the word repeatedly speaks of healing. So we know Jesus came to heal us as well.

We’ve all been through a traumatic experience. We lost a loved one. Experienced a divorce. Lost a job. Witnessed or experienced abuse. We all know these experiences. But what happens after?

The aftermath of difficulties in our lives can be extended. They can manifest in racing thoughts, depression, anxiety, fear, lack of confidence, and crippling emotional states.

But they can also manifest as changes in our personality itself, and these changes can be very long lasting, they come to define who we are as a person.

Often times we slowly heal over time, as we pray and seek the Lord, but, sometimes when the hurts are deeper, God will take on something I’ve learned to understand as a “healing journey.”

Throughout this new series titled “the healing journey” we’re going to walk through different stages of how God heals us, we will look at how Jesus walks alongside us, and guides by the Holy Spirit toward different forms of contemplation, reflection, processing, deliverance, rock bottoms, and new heights, all different steps along the pathway to renewal.

I’ll tell you that this topic is very near and dear to my heart. I’ve been through many deep traumas in my life, from childhood abuse, to the divorce of my parents when I was 16, to abuse I experienced in my early twenties, to years of depression and anxiety, to many bad decisions I made that compounded and made worse the trauma I had already experienced, to the point that I was walking through life with so many mental and spiritual wounds that I could barely function.

Then, I encountered Jesus Christ, and he changed my life forever. I fundamentally went from broken to healed. I was born again, a new person. And that was the great turning point in my healing journey.

However, even after having come to Christ, I still found myself with so many wounds on my heart. Though Jesus had forgiven my sins and made me a new person, he did not instantly remove all the hurts and pains I’d gone through.

I did many things to attempt to gain healing in those early years of first becoming a Christian in 2012, but my attempts only yielded mixed results. I took many secular approaches to healing, and don’t get me wrong, many of these techniques are helpful. I utilized the twelve steps, I went to secular counselors, EMDR, journaling, workbooks, reading self help books, Christian books, and so on and so forth.

I put in a lot of work to find healing, more than most would, I read dozens of books, worked through several workbooks, attended groups multiple times a week, and healing came, but it was incomplete.

Maybe some of you can relate today, you’ve attempted different methods to experience healing, but all of it seemed to come up just short, and you find yourself feeling like your heart has holes in it, and you’ve accepted it as inevitable.

I felt that way, for years I had attempted healing, but I’d come up short, and there I found myself in my 3rd year of being a minister, realizing, I’m carrying wounds that are making it hard for me to succeed in what I’m doing. These wounds are holding me back from becoming all God has called me to be. But I had tried every method I knew of, and my heart was still badly wounded.

We start with this simple phrase: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."

That’s the first line of Psalm 23, our foundation scripture for today.

The first point for today is this: Make the Lord your shepherd, in the healing process, and you will not want for healing. He will provide it. But, we must let go of the reins, and allow God to lead this process.

We often say God you’re in charge, then we grab the reins and take over again. That won’t work. We really have to continually look to Him. And we can.

So this first message today is the entry point. We’re getting our supplies ready. We’ve getting our backpack, shoes, canteen, sleeping bag, and we’re getting ready for a long journey. We’re packing, and beginning to look toward the road ahead.

The first hurdle to face today is this: Maybe you think you don’t need healing. Maybe it’s true. But maybe we’re so used to it, that we don’t see it. So if you’re someone sitting there today thinking I don’t need any healing, I want you to consider the possibility that maybe you do. And then ask God to reveal if that is the case.

Don’t let pride get in the way of something that could change your life. I don’t know about the rest of you, but as for me and my house, we will seek the Lord for healing. Will you join us?

Like I said, the first point is to let God be the shepherd. 

Next verse 2, “He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.”

The Hebrew there for quiet waters, can be translated ‘waters of rest.’

Second point today, the healing journey is going to be an experience of rest for many of you.

When we’ve been through numerous traumas in our lives, we can end up a state of near constant high engagement of our adrenal gland, called fight or flight. It’s also called adrenaline syndrome or acute stress response.

Our body when it senses a dangerous situation, or a tense argument, our bodies begin to push adrenaline into our brain, for the God-given purpose of giving us strength to either fight or flee the situation we’re in. It’s a good thing.

But the problem is, when we’ve experienced long periods of intensity or trauma, we can get caught in fight or flight, where we are constantly in a state of adrenaline hyperarousal. Many are caught in that state long term, and over time it exhausts us, leaving us always fatigued.

God is offering us rest. This is a gift. But it is also a challenge. Rest is a gift. But it also means we have to slow ourselves down, and get out of fight or flight. Otherwise we won’t be able to experience healing.

David wrote this psalm as king, looking back on his life, and how God had provided safe places for him. The green pasture David writes about is our safe place.

We don’t need to be scrambling about like mad men and women, for God is our green pasture, our safe place.

Though I worry some of us, if we were to paint a picture of what it feels like inside our heads, it’s more like a dark stormy plain, than a warm sunny pasture. This series is going to help you heal, to turn that dark stormy place in your heart, to a green pasture of the presence of God.

Let’s pray for rest, and a safe place. (Take a few moments to pray)

Next, verse 3: “He restores my soul”

Ultimately, the goal here is verse 3, to bring portions of our soul before God, and invite Him to restore those areas.

Pray right now and ask God, which area of my soul do you want to restore Lord? And then wait, it may come as an image in your mind or a memory, or a thought. Once you’ve received from God that thing, I want you to pray, and invite God to begin to heal that part of your heart.

Friends I believe God has big plans for His church. Really big plans. But the journey ahead of us will be challenging, there will be many ups and downs. So God is bringing us through this healing series, yes because he loves us and wants us to be at peace, but just as much, he’s getting us ready. We won’t be able to win the battles ahead if we’re covered in past wounds. But if we find healing, we will be ready.

Second part of verse 3, “He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.”

Healing is not a one and done thing. It’s a journey. In my healing journey, which has really turned a corner in the last year, God has brought me to things from my childhood, to bitterness from my first posting in ministry, to bullying during high school, to things from a recent dispute I had with a mentor, to the loss of loved ones, and to forgiveness I needed to offer to those who had hurt me. Step by step, along the road.

If Jesus brings something to mind again and again, don’t ignore it. Follow where he points.

Notice how it says, “He guides me.” I don’t guide Him. He shows me where to look for healing, and I don’t second guess what he’s saying. If he points to an incident I feel I’ve already dealt with, I need to open it up again. Because Jesus is never wrong.

Next, verse 4: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil...”

After a traumatic event takes place, many times what we do is stuff it. It’s a very unhealthy practice, but it’s something I did as a kid. I would stuff it. Ignore it, hide it away, and pretend it didn’t happen.

Here is the hardest thing to understand about healing, and experiencing healing in the Lord:

There is no way around the pain. We can’t ignore it. We can’t hide from it. We can’t pretend it doesn’t bother us.

Part of healing is going back to the original memory, and accessing the emotions attached to the memory. The emotions flow out, often in the form of tears, or anger, or sorrow or regret. And we feel those emotions. And we process them. One of the greatest ways to tell that healing is happening, is because tears are flowing. And it may take time, days, weeks, even months of processing.

So if the process begins, simply embrace it. And you’ll find yourself reframing the events in a new way. You’ll begin to go from anger or sorrow at the loss of your mom, to thanking God for her life, and being grateful for the years you had, and having a desire to honor her memory. The purging of the emotions brings a new way of seeing the outcome, from a higher level, a level God brings you to.

Part of this series will be walking through the valley of the shadow of death. We will walk you to the pain, and through the pain. There’s no way around, the only way is straight through.

But remember also what it says: We will fear no evil. There is nothing to fear here. God is walking us through. So no evil can touch us. 

Prayer: Lord, please grant us courage as we face these sorrows from our past. Help us to walk through the sorrow. Bring us to the emotions. Help us not to give up until we're all the way through.  In Jesus name, amen. 

Second part of verse 4: “for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”

This is the center point of Psalm 23, the simple statement: "You are with me."

God’s presence is the very centerpiece of the healing journey. If we can cultivate times of experiencing God’s presence, we will experience His healing touch.

At the prayer meeting this Thursday, Chelsey, Ilienne and I were praying. Normally we simply do intercession, praying for family, schools, police and firefighters, and so on. But this time, we simply spent time seeking God’s face. And after a few minutes, God showed up, and we were in tears.

That is something every one of us can experience, by spending time with God in prayer, not making endless requests, but by seeking His face, His presence, and quietly waiting upon Him for extended periods. If you want to learn to do this, please attend our prayer meeting, it’s amazing what God is doing.

Prayer: Lord, help me in my prayer times, to simply seek your Face, to incline my heart toward you, to turn my heart toward yours, help me to cultivate quiet times Father, deep quiet times, to seek your presence, in Jesus name, amen. 

Second portion, of this scripture, your rod and staff comfort me.

There is a great deal of comfort that comes through all this. A comforting from God as we go on this journey. God is one who comforts the hurting. He sees your pain and he is with you in it.

He provides both a rod of correction to us in this, and a staff of protection. He won’t bring too many memories at the same time, he protects the healing process, keeping it at the right pace. He also corrects, if I’m trying to ignore something, God will correct me, bring it out and gently ask me to deal with it.

Next, verse 5: "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil;”

This sort of tender hospitality from the Lord, a table prepared before us with all sorts of choice foods, drink and delights, the anointing of the head with oil, shows us the abundant mercies of God in the healing process.

And we are able to say, “My cup overflows.” I am abundantly blessed.

So many times, I’ve walked through the pain with God. I’ve shed the tears. I’ve written down the memories in my journal. I’ve gone into prayer and sought God’s face. God brought such memories, such emotions to the surface. And then I prayed and asked God to heal the heart wound he had just exposed. I would lift up my heart to God, and place it in the hands of Jesus, and he would heal it. And then a few days later, I wake up realizing I feel so much lighter. My heart wound is healed. And I have a new peace, when each day used to be so much anxiety and fear. And I’m able to declare, “My cup overflows.”

Prayer: Lord, bring the overflow in my life. Bring the healing touch. Lord I lift my heart up to you. I put my heart into your hands Lord Jesus, I release my heart into your hands. I ask you to heal it completely. I receive my heart back from you Jesus, healed, in Jesus name, amen. 

Verse 6 says, “Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life…”

So even after the pains of the past have been healed, and I’m walking in shalom, I’m able to know that even into the future, God will be with me.

And as new difficulties occur, he will guide me into healing again and again and again. I won’t be carrying around the past anymore. I’ll be battle ready. God’s goodness will guide me.

Lastly, verse 6b: “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Though this verse speaks of heaven, of being in the New Jerusalem, what I want you to notice here, is that the house of the Lord is like the temple.

And there are three parts of the temple, the outer court, the holy place, and the most holy place. And I’ve found in my journey with God, as we develop our relationship, it’s like slowly walking, in intimacy, from the outer court, to the holy place, and into the most holy place. This occurs in our heart, because we are God’s temple now.

Through this healing process, if we seek the Lord and find healing, our hearts will be healed. And our healed hearts will be much more able to love God and love others, because the broken places will be repaired. And our relationship with God, now spurred on by the healing, will prosper, and we will have the opportunity, to dwell in the house of the Lord within our hearts, the most holy place unfettered by past hurts and traumas.

Prayer: Lord, let us always view our lives as a steady journey of walking from the outer court, to the holy place, and into the most holy place. Guide us to always be on a journey to seek you more and more deeply, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.  

I Long for a Deeper Walk with God: Moving forward into the Depths of God

One day you will be in a hospital bed, surrounded by loved ones, nearing your last day on Earth, looking back on your life. And you'll ask yourself, did I become all God called me to be? Or did I miss the mark? Will that be a moment of profound satisfaction or a moment of regret and repentance before God? The choice is yours. 

Rewind to today, to right now, this very moment. How can you build your life in such a way, that when you're near death, you may look back and say to yourself: This was a victorious Christian life. I became all God wanted me to be.

If we want to start today, and begin moving in that direction, we may believe a simple statement: I can be everything God desires me to be.

Do you believe that? Or have you sold yourself on a mentality of defeatism? That you can’t ever quite get over that hump? I dare you today, to believe, God is able. I can be everything God desires me to be.

Or as Paul wrote: "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." -Phil 4:13

And in Hebrews 6:1a we get a picture of what that journey looks like: “Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity” -Hebrews 6:1a

So we want to discover today how to obey that teaching of going on into maturity, with the help of the belief that we can be all God has called us to be, for the purpose of living a victorious Christian life.

What does that word maturity mean in the Greek? It means perfect, mature, of full age. It implies spiritual completeness.

Pastor I can’t be "perfect," true, but we can be mature. This doesn’t mean we never make mistakes, it does mean we are generally mature in our attitudes and thinking. We’ve grown up. A child in elementary school can be expected to behavior as one who is in elementary school. But if an adult behaved as if they were in elementary school, we'd know there was something wrong. Similarly, we who are spiritual should not find ourselves behaving as spiritual grade-schoolers when we ought to have proceeded into adulthood. But the question is: How do we get there?

For our example today, we look to the life of Paul. Paul, writing to his mentor Timothy, who was a pastor at Ephesus, instructs him on Christian living. Paul has written about false teachers, which we discussed last week, but starting in verse 10, he reminds Timothy about his own life.

It says, “You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance,”

We’re looking at Paul’s way of life. And we want to mimic Paul, as Paul mimic’s Jesus. Paul’s way of life is first of all defined by his purpose. In anything we do in life, we have to know our purpose.

Why am I on Earth? What am I here to do? Your purpose on Earth is to love God with all your heart, and to love people around you. Those are the two commands Jesus gave us, defining the base of our purpose, love.

Paul’s love for Jesus who changed his life propelled him forward. It fed his entire being with passion, excitement, he was on fire for Jesus.

If you struggle in your walk with God, it may be because you lack a clear understanding of your purpose. Or, you once were excited, but the flames have died down.

Ask God today, pray right now even, and say Lord, I need you to set me on fire for Jesus. I need you to show me my purpose, so that passion can propel me forward, in Jesus name, amen.

Without knowing our purpose we won’t be able to do anything else on this list Paul gives us. But if we do, zeal will fill us. "Zeal" is a spiritual word, it means excitement.

But if you don't know your purpose you'll be rudderless in life. I see a whole generation of young people who were sold on the lie that life has no real purpose except that which we invent for it. And that philosophy has consequences, it has led to a generation of young men and women are feel like has no purpose. They just go to the bars, doom-scroll social media all day, play videogames constantly, and have no real goals or aspirations aside from hedonistic pleasure. And it's a lie. That philosophy is a lie. And it nearly destroyed me. It may have not been explicitly taught to me in school, but it felt "baked in" to everything propagated by our society, from television to schooling to modernism to scientism and everything in between. And it nearly destroyed me. It's destroying lives today, because people don't know their purpose. But once we know our purpose, who God is, who Jesus Christ is, and where history is going, we become dangerous to a broken system that pushes materialistic relativism. 

Next, is faith. What is faith? It’s conviction in your heart of the truth of something. You believe it’s really true. You trust it’s true. You trust in God for your salvation. You believe essentially that Jesus is really real.

Purpose and faith hook together in your heart and they feed off of each other. You know your purpose is to love God and love others, it fills you with desire to do it, that’s coupled with your faith that Jesus is really real and the gospel is true. This produces a fire in your heart.

If you’re struggling with doubts that’s ok, go back to some apologetics, evidence for God, the Bible, the historical Jesus, and let it fuel your faith. Faith comes from the word of God as well, so study it carefully.

Next, patience. Waiting is the key fact of the Christian life. We are all waiting and waiting, often waiting in difficult circumstances.

Many of you are waiting on the Lord in difficult circumstances. You have chronic health issues that won't go away. You've got unsaved loved ones you've been praying for, for years. But you've kept your eyes on heaven, and waited on the Lord patiently. It is something we all need to understand and learn.

Next, flowing from purpose, through faith, across the great expanses of the wilderness of patience and longsuffering, we come to love. Love is at the very center of the gospel. For God so loved the world that he gave his son.

Everything we do as a Christian is meant to be done in love. Compassion, empathy, affection, it’s all based in love. But we are not able to love on our own.

We must receive love from God, and love God back. That happens in our relationship with Him. The best thing in the world I can suggest to you, is to sit alone with God, on a lawn chair outside, and just talk to Him for hours. And you will sense your heart filling with love. Then you’re able to pour out that love to others.

The key thing God is teaching each Christian is how to love Him and how to love other people. It’s everything. Love is everything. With the goal in mind of going on into maturity, make love your goal. Learning it, doing it, receiving it, giving it, and you’ll become mature in Christ.

Sometimes we face a challenge though. We've been hurt so badly in life, hurt in our child hood, hurt by circumstances, abused and mistreated by someone we should've been able to trust, that we've closed off our hearts from love. We've shut that gate. And now we find ourselves cold, numb, and unable to open that gate again. My challenge to you is to seek God on this one, and let Him take you on a healing journey. He can do a work in your heart, to open that door closed by pain, which will allow love to flow once again.

And endurance. We humans live within the confines of God’s system of time. Life may feel short, but it's also quite long. That’s why it’s so important to have the mindset of endurance, one day at a time.

When we look to the 1828 dictionary, the definition for endurance is “Continuance; a state of lasting or duration.” In the recovery community an individual who has stayed clean and sober another year often celebrates their sobriety date with cake and a coin citing how many years they’ve been sober.

Maybe we should do something similar in Christianity. How many years have you been a Christian? What date were you first baptized? We celebrate our marriage anniversaries. We should be celebrating the day we got saved. I was first baptized February 10th 2013, I still have the video of the testimony I gave that day, endurance is seeing the long game.

In NFL football each team is often focused in on the current drive down the field, play by play, how do we reach the end zone, but any good coach sees the long game, how many quarters are left, how many scores do I need to make to win this game, and if they’re a very good coach they’re thinking weeks ahead, they’re thinking months ahead, years ahead, to build their team to be Superbowl contenders.

Patience and endurance are connected. We talked about waiting in difficult circumstances, like many of you here deal with everyday. Endurance is like that, when we’re dealing with a difficulty long term, endurance biblically does two things: First, it accepts the reality of it and walks with it each day, without endlessly resisting it. Instead we embrace the difficulty and accept that it’s part of what we’re going through. Second, we don't let it weigh us down. We accept the situation, but we never surrender to despair. Never. We always keep our hope and joy strong.

Next, verse 11, “...persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.”

Most of us will never experience the incredible persecutions Paul endured. In Antioch and Iconium Jews in the cities stirred up the crowds and drove Paul out of both cities. In Lystra it was even worse, Paul was surrounded, pelted with stones and his body dragged outside the city gates.

Yet Paul makes the vital statement, “The Lord rescued me from all of them.” I always expect in my walk with Jesus, when I face difficulties, that God will rescue me.

My wife Chelsey and I were really at the end of our ropes in Chicago, at our last posting. We felt trapped, empty, we felt like there was no future, no hope. We were so burned out. And we figured, we can’t ever leave The Salvation Army, I’m called here, so I’m stuck, my wife is stuck, despite how things have gone. But God said no, I’m calling you somewhere new, and we felt so seen by God, we felt so completely that he really did see us, and He made a new way for us. That’s who God is. He is a rescuer. But understand timing, endurance, patience, because I waited many years feeling hope fade before God moved.

Next, verse 12: “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted...”

Now not everyone wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus. They want Jesus, but they don’t want to live godly. They want Jesus and sin too. They aren't going to be persecuted, necessarily. They aren’t going to heaven either.

But if you want to live a godly life in Christ, you will be persecuted. But the thing about persecution is, it actually helps us. It molds us, it shapes us, it matures us. It shows us how to respond the right way to critics and haters. That builds character.

Next verse 13: “...while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

From the ages of 18 to 27, I went from bad to worse, I went downhill so very fast. And when I was 27 I gave my life to Christ and ever since then, each year I become a better person. That’s God work in me. You see it in yourself as well, God molding and shaping you. 

But it’s often difficult to accept, particularly within our own families, that they aren’t getting better, they are either staying the same it seems, or they seem to be getting worse.

It’s hard to watch as a Christian, because you’ve got the Master Physician working on you each day. And it’s awesome. But to see someone on the other side, without Christ, it’s hard. They don’t have Jesus. They are getting worse over time. 

And there’s really no way to force someone to get Christ. As hard as we try to show someone, it’s their choice. Often attempts to force will actually make it worse. So honor their free will. Invite, encourage, pray for them, don’t try to force them. For children it’s a bit different of course, we can't force them to become believers, that's between them and God, but we can require them to come to church until they reach an age when they can make that decision themselves.

Next, verses 14-15: “14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

We understand that going on into maturity in Christ, growing up into our salvation is going to take many things, from purpose to persecutions, but ultimately it’s going to take an attitude of the mind. That attitude is continuance.

Keep moving forward. And what I think that means is this: Make it your goal to keep getting closer and closer to God. Never settle at a particular place. Say no, I’m going to go deeper.

I remember in Owosso we did a series on a book by a famous French contemplative writer named Jeanne Guyon. She wrote a book called Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ. We did a series going through the book, and it changed my life. Because it helped me realize one simple fact: The Christian life is about setting out on a journey to dive into the depths of the heart of God.

I’m not sure I can explain exactly what that means. But I think there’s a statement that Moses makes, he asks God, “Show me your glory.” He’s asking God to show him who he really is. He is looking at God and saying, who are you? Not just things about God, but looking at God himself. So often in church we talk about God, but we don’t actually turn to Him and say "Oh hi, you’re right here. Who are you really Lord?"

My wife wants to know people deeply. I love that about her. She doesn’t have a lot of time for small talk. She wants to go deep and see into your heart and talk about your deepest desires and hopes and dreams. And she wants to point you to Jesus Christ in all of it.

Take that desire, to know someone deeply, and point it toward God. I want to know you deeply, all about you, your very depths. It can be intimidating, to launch out in a little space ship toward such a huge God, but make that your journey. God I want to know you more, your mysteries, your ways.

Paul reminds Timothy here, continue forward in what you’ve been convinced of, and look to the holy scriptures, which will make you wise for salvation.

Next, famous scripture, verse 16-17: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

The goal is the servant of God, that’s you and me, may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. All scripture, which is breathed out by God, is useful in attaining this goal.

All of this put together means we are equipped by God’s word, ready then, trained, to do good things for God in the world. We know God, we love God, and we love his people. We've chased God, we know Him, we know His word, and it's fundamentally changed us over the years. We are built up. We are lit up. We are on fire. We are grown up. We are mature in Christ. And from all this flows a beautiful flood of love-filled good works.  And God will not fail to reward us for this.

Bringing in Hebrews 6 again, which God linked with our passage today, verse 10: “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.”

The reward is greater than we could possibly imagine and God will not forget our service. He is watching every single deed, every ounce of love we give, every tear we shed is stored in bottles, every detail of our journeys is recorded in books in heaven. God will not fail to richly reward your faithfulness in seeking Him. Believe that with all your heart. If you go on into maturity, your reward will be great. Why go on into maturity? It means becoming everything God has called you to be, and on judgment day that equals a life without regrets. I can say, "I was all in!" And I can look back with pleasure that I really did believe God could do it. And He did!

But the greatest reward of all will be, when you walk through that doorway into heaven, and you see your blessed living savior, waiting for you with arms wide open, and you’ll know, I became the man or woman He wanted me to be, and now… the adventure has only just begun. Hallelujah!

Let’s Review our Journey Today:

1. You can be everything God has called you to be - remember the goal, looking back at the end of our lives, we want to be able to say, I lived a victorious Christian life, obtaining that means changing the present

2. Go forward into maturity: see it as a journey toward God

3. We learned the equation for success: Purpose, Faith, Patience, Love, and Endurance

4. Expect persecution, but don’t fear it: It actually helps you

5. We may be improving each day in Christ: Don’t expect the same from the world, they are becoming worse and worse

6. See your Christian life as a journey toward the heart of God: “Who are you really Lord?”

7. Through God’s Word we are thoroughly equipped for this journey

8. God will not forget: The reward is greater than you can ever imagine

Contending for the Faith: The Struggle against False Teachers

Five years ago I gave a sermon on biblical justice that landed me in trouble. It was during a time of chaos in our society, at the height of the COVID pandemic and a summer of political riots. During that time I had observed the rise of an ideology called social justice that was beginning to infiltrate the church. 

Biblical justice is based on the scriptures and builds from there, but I saw that the social justice ideology was built on the oppressor vs. oppressed paradigm common in Marxist ideology. It was based on critical theory, a concept of criticizing and tearing down perceived oppressive structures in society. And I saw this ideology was infiltrating the church under the guise of justice ministry.

I became increasingly concerned, sensing God calling me to speak up in the struggle between biblical justice and social justice ideology.

On July 5th 2020 during the height of this societal chaos I gave a sermon on biblical justice that I titled "...And Justice for All." The sermon was live streamed. I spoke about the dangers of critical theory based ideologies. I spoke about the importance of unity in diversity among the body. And I encouraged the body of Christ to embrace biblical justice, which includes deep love and mercy.

Immediately after giving the message, the sermon had received over five thousand views and a mob had formed on social media with the goal of cancelling me. They lobbied leadership in The Salvation Army, and I was banned from preaching for a period of about one month. And for a moment it looked like I might be removed from leadership altogether. 

However, officers, soldiers, and leaders throughout The Salvation Army world spoke up on my behalf, and in the end, all the complaints were dropped and my preaching rights were restored. Leadership viewed the original text of the message and decided the message was not blameworthy after all.  

I remember when I was first writing the sermon this feeling came over me, I could almost sense what was coming next. I got on my knees in distress to pray. And I said, "Lord, would you like me to change this message in some way?" And I heard the Lord say to me: "Every word." 

It was a scary moment in my life as a new officer, just out of my first year, but God used it to mold and shape me, and I saw the army's approach to justice ministry begin to shift toward a more biblical approach. I knew that in some small way, God had used that sermon I gave that day to help guide the movement toward a more biblical path. But I was never treated the same in the movement after that day. I began to feel like an outsider. 

Yet it was worth it to see a real change in the struggle between biblical justice and social justice. Nevertheless, it is a continued struggle to this day in the body of Christ, such teachings are always attempting to infiltrate the church, teachings that divide people into disparate groups, sow distrust among believers, and encourage hatred and resentment instead of love. 

In the struggle against false teachings and false teachers, you may pay a price for the witness you bring, but if the Lord is calling you to speak up, speak up boldly. Despite the price you pay, remember our Lord paid an infinitely higher price when He died for you on the cross. 

Today we examine the book of Jude, in particular the last half of the letter. Jude was a brother to Jesus, his real name was Judas, but, we call him Jude, because that name Judas is more often associated with the disciple who betrayed Jesus.

Jude was probably one of the younger brothers of Jesus. He did not follow Jesus during his earthly ministry, but after the resurrection of Jesus, Jude became a leader in the early church.

Jude is writing this letter to a church that is struggling against false teachers. So Jude writes early in the letter, that he had hoped to write a letter about all the wonderful depths of salvation in Christ, but instead he has to write this letter challenging the church to “contend for the faith.”

And the Greek word for contend here is very strong. It implies to fight, as a combatant.

If we turn to the 1828 Webster’s dictionary, it says this about the word contend:

1. To strive, or to strive against; to struggle in opposition.

2. To strive; to use earnest efforts to obtain, or to defend and preserve.

3. To dispute earnestly; to strive in debate.

I like that word earnestly because it implies you have a good heart about it, you love the truth, you aren’t disputing because you want clicks or because you want to make some point, but because you love the truth. It’s honest disputing.

So that’s the challenge, to contend against false teachers. And these false teachers that Jude is dealing with are making a particular claim, that is very common in the modern church. Jude writes in verse 4:

“For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.”

They take the concept that we are under the grace of God, to be a license, to practice and live in sin. They say, if we’re under the grace of God, we can do whatever we want.

What is a license? It gives you permission to do something. If I have a fishing license, I am officially allowed to fish in the area. They treat the incredible gift of the cross of Jesus, as a license to sin.

I had a Christian who was disputing me with, because he and his wife felt I was a teaching a works gospel, and they made the statement, “a Christian can sin as much as they want.” That my friends, is a false teaching.

This has been a theological dispute in the history of the church, a heresy we now call today antinomianism. The phrase antinomian breaks down into two words in Latin, "anti" meaning against, and "law" meaning moral good. Martin Luther wrote extensively against antinomianism, so did John Wesley.

So that’s our first point for today, contend for the faith. Keep your guard against false teachers who want to make the claim that because we are under Christ, we can live and sin however we want. This is very common today, so many ministries teach a grace-heavy gospel, that removes the need for holiness and for purity, and rebukes good works as attempts to earn your salvation.

So Jude spends the first half of the letter dealing with these false teachers and pointing out that we can know them by their fruit. We will know them by what their lives produce. Their words may seem very wise or powerful or seem right to our emotions, but their fruit will prove who they really are.

Second point, you can know a false teacher or a false Christian by their fruit. Does their lifestyle match what they say? Now, no ones lifestyle perfectly matches Christ, but, you will be able to sense, by the Spirit’s guidance, whether they are walking in the way of Christ or in their own way.

But I want to focus in on the second half of the letter. Which gives instruction from Jude about how to live, despite the false teachings around us.

But let me just say one more thing, we live in a time in the body of Christ, when there are false teachings everywhere. I believe we live in the era that Jude is about to talk about, where we see false teachers everywhere, and false teachings damaging the faith of millions. We live in those times now.

I’ve done research on the churches here in Traverse city, I would say nearly half of them are gay pride churches, churches that are teaching against the leading the Holy Spirit, against Christ, that is wild. This is up north traverse city of all places. But it’s true in every city I’ve been in, from Escanaba to Chicago to Owosso to Gary, there is always a big gathering of churches that are apostate, against the faith, against Christ, because they teach against his word.

So you may be sitting there thinking what do I need to worry about false teachers? Brothers and sisters, they are all around us. And on tv, and social media, and YouTube.

So Jude addresses this, verses 17-19: "17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.”

Notice that phrase, “in the last times.” Jesus spoke repeatedly about a period of time at the end of human history, known as the end times. He spoke about difficult times that would come on the Earth. And part of that story of the end times was, scoffers who would mock the idea of Jesus’ return.

There were signs of this even in the time of Jude. Jesus predicted that after he was crucified and resurrected, vicious wolves would sneak in among the flock and lead many astray.

Third point, be on guard in your thinking. Watch out for soothing, clever statements made by leaders. There are all sorts of clever arguments intended to sway you away from faith in Christ, or to get you to accept false doctrines. Their arguments will appeal to your emotions, and manipulate your emotions. They make statements like: "If God was really good, why would he send someone hell? If God loves everyone then why shouldn’t we accept all lifestyles? We just need to listen and learn from other peoples experiences. We can’t convert anyone that would be wrong, they need to stay in the religion they were raised in. There are many ways to God, not just one."

All of these statements can be so appealing to our emotions. But we can't let our emotions rule us. Not everything that sounds good, is good. Here’s my challenge to you, the best way to be on guard in your thinking is to let God’s word stand in authority above your emotions. Then we can’t be led astray, because we’ll say, well, what does God’s word say? There's a check and balance against our feelings.

Let God’s word stand in authority above your emotions, and you won’t be led astray.

So we understand we’ve got to contend, keep watch, keep our emotions in check, and resist and overcome false teachers.

Notice verse 19, they follow mere human instincts, they do not have the Spirit. That is one way to identify a false teacher, do you sense the Spirit working through their ministry? Certain speakers I've watched over the years in church, they would come up and speak and I would sense the Spirit moving through them. But numerous times a speaker would come forward, and my wife and I would say afterward, where was the Holy Spirit? We would listen and become troubled, grieved, even upset as they spoke because we sensed a different spirit, but not the Holy Spirit.

Next, Jude is going to explain to us how to live, despite all the frightful things we see happening around us.

Verses 20-21: "20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life."

This is the key scripture for our message today. Build yourselves up in your most holy faith. But I thought it was God who was building us? That is true. We are saved by grace through faith, this is not of ourselves, it is a gift of God. Yet the word of God also says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

So many people get annoyed with me in my preaching because I mention those pesky scriptures that no one likes to talk about, the ones that mention hell, and judgment and the fear of the Lord, falling away, and the call to holiness. Is it because I enjoy being controversial? Not at all.

But, it’s like we have this long list of our favorite scriptures, John 3:16, Romans 8:28, Jeremiah 29:11. And then we have this other list of scriptures, the challenging ones, that few preachers will talk about, because these scriptures make us feel uncomfortable. But if I only teach from the list of feel good scriptures, I am a false teacher, because by excluding the difficult passages, I’ve carved an idol out of God, making him all love and no justice. Now the converse is true as well, if I only preach on the tough verses, I’ve also made an idol, of all justice and no love, that is a false teaching as well.

We must teach the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27), as one who must give an account, in accordance with James 3:1.

Point four, build yourselves up in the most holy faith. I’m on a journey, and I know you are too, to build yourselves up in your faith journey. We are people always seeking to grow, always seeking to learn new things, looking for opportunities to build our faith, and to go on into maturity.

And if you’re wondering, how do we as Christians overcome all these lies and falsehoods and false teachers and evil agendas around us in the world, the answer is to build ourselves up. We often think we must fight harder. But Jesus said, overcome evil with good.

One Christian who really seriously seeks to build themselves up in the faith, and become all God has called them to be, is greater than 450 false teachers (just ask Elijah). They can overcome all of it, and change an entire city. Because Christ is glowing within them.

Next it says, “And praying the Holy Spirit.”

Point five, pray in the Spirit. What does that mean? Pentecostals talk about that a lot, praying in the Spirit. Praying in the Spirit is when we allow the Holy Spirit to pray through us. It’s not necessarily praying in tongues, but it can be. But more so, it’s allowing the Spirit to guide your prayers. Sometimes I do this when I pray, I’ll say Holy Spirit please pray through me before I start.

I can tell when I’m praying in Justin, because it’s not too powerful, but when you start praying in the Spirit, you feel the Spirit surging through your being, and you get passionate, excited, and focused. Your prayers become powerful when you pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep that in your back pocket. Ask the Spirit to guide your prayers before you start.

Verse 21, "keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life."

What do you mean keep yourself in God’s love? Isn’t God the one who keeps us? God certainly does keep us, and we’re told in his word there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. Nothing outside ourselves, nothing demonic that can separate us. But, we can choose to separate ourselves.

It’s all outlined in John chapter 15, Jesus said, "If you obey my commandments, you will remain in my love." It’s the concept of abiding, remain close to Jesus, which keeps us in God’s love. But God’s love is also keeping us. It implies two entities interlocked together, God and you holding onto each other.  

Point six, keep yourself in God’s love as you wait. We are all waiting for something as Christians. We are waiting for the Lord Jesus to return, and bring us to eternal life. We are all waiting for that one day when Jesus will part the sky and take us home. In the meantime, abide in Christ, as Christ abides in you, keeping yourself in God's love as you wait. 

But in the meantime, as we wait, we receive instructions on how we should live. Verses 22-23: "22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh."

If someone is having doubts in their faith walk, don’t judge them, be merciful to them. Encourage them. Listen to them. Pray for them.

For others, snatch them from the fire. Many countless souls out there today, in this city, are perilously close to the eternal hellfire of damnation. And they need someone like you and me, to come and snatch them from the fires and show them to the feet of Jesus.

To still others, show mercy, mixed with fear. So a balance of mercy, along with deep concern for the sins they are in, hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. That’s the concept of love the sinner, hate the sin. Some say it’s not scriptural, show them Jude 23.

Essentially, it’s saying as we wait for Jesus to come back, be at work in his field, as ambassadors to the community on His behalf.

So lastly, verses 24-25, “24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”

Jude has just told us to build ourselves up in the most holy faith, but then he also reminds us, God is able to keep us from stumbling, and to present us before the throne of God the Father without fault.

It’s all very synergistic. God’s presence and help and power, connected with our prayers, obedience, faithfulness, and practice of purity. 

The entire Trinity is involved in preparing us for judgment day. 

Jesus makes us clean by dying on the cross for us, and covering us with his blood. Jesus goes with us on the journey, walking with us, and advocating for us to the Father. He also keeps us holy on the road.

The Holy Spirit sanctifies us, encourages us, convicts us, and helps us to hear God’s voice. He builds us in purity of heart.

God the Father, molds us, shapes us, loves on us, builds us, and protects us along the way.

All for the purpose of one day presenting us before the throne of God, faultless, and with great joy.

Point seven, trust that God our Savior will be do His part to present you faultless before God our Father’s throne.

Jude concludes by declaring, all glory to God, God the Father is our savior, through Jesus Christ, glory, majesty, power, and authority belong to God. Forever. Amen.

Review of Main Points:
1. Contend for the faith

2. You can know a false teacher by their fruit

3. Be on guard in your thinking

4. Build yourselves up in the most holy faith

5. Pray in the Spirit

6. Keep yourself in God’s love as you wait

7. Trust that God our Savior will be do His part to present you faultless before God our Father’s throne

In conclusion today, let’s wrap it all together. God is painting a beautiful canvass on our hearts. He’s molding and shaping us into people of incredible glory, from one degree of glory to the next. He’s creating something amazing. And it’s messy on the way, there are setbacks, and trauma and pain and tears and grief, but also victories, hope, healing and renewal.

As we engage in this journey, and we build ourselves up step by step with God, we must guard against false teachers that would smear their own designs all over the beautiful canvass God is painting. Their false teachings would ruining and sideline us on our spiritual journeys. The false teacher is great at getting us to stop on the road, and pitch a tent in a place where we were meant to keep going deeper and higher toward God. Keep your guard against their clever schemes and high sounding speech. Contend for the faith, speak up boldly, but also remember, we overcome false teachers by doing good, not by lashing out with anger. 

Apply your heart to building yourself up in the most holy faith. In so doing, you will grow and grow, praying in the Spirit, helping others who are in danger, and waiting patiently for the return of the Lord Jesus. On that day he will present you, God willing, faultless and with great joy before the throne of the Father.

As Jude writes, "Glory, majesty, power, and authority belong to God!" Amen.