Untitled Sermon

Contend

Contend

I am so grateful that in the last century the Holy Spirit has brought much of the Body of Christ worldwide back to the pursuit and experience of this baptism. What baffles me is that there are so many believers who taste of this glorious anointing and stop short of undertaking a lifelong pursuit of more. Every man and woman I know who has been launched into a ministry of signs and wonders through his or her experience with the Holy Spirit understands that he/she must never stop contending for and experiencing further encounters. Johnson, Bill. Strengthen Yourself in the Lord: How to Release the Hidden Power of God in Your Life (p. 141). Destiny Image. Kindle Edition.

Romans 15:30-33 (KJV) 30 Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; 31 That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints; 32 That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed. 33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

Hebrews 11:33 (KJV) 33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION—THE ULTIMATE AMBITION To be transformed into His image is the passion that drives our priority to learn how to strengthen ourselves. No one else can fulfill my destiny for me. No one else can possess my promises. Complacency will not draw the baptism of the Holy Spirit into my life. There’s something about exercising my will and faith to step beyond convenience that matters to God. On one occasion, Jesus saw that His disciples were struggling in the midst of a storm, so He walked out on the lake. But He didn’t walk to them. The Bible says, “He…would have passed them by” (Mark 6:48). The cry of His disciples is what turned Him their way. He was showing them that God is available to us—He is always within reach.

Johnson, Bill. Strengthen Yourself in the Lord: How to Release the Hidden Power of God in Your Life (pp. 146-147). Destiny Image. Kindle Edition.

When we refuse to let circumstances and areas of personal weakness determine our level of faith and passion, we will discover the secret of victory in every situation. Instead of being bound by the limitations set by our natural environment, we choose to lift up our heart’s cry to the Lord in the dry and barren place and actually draw “water” to the surface that the Holy Spirit has already poured out in our lives. It’s much like digging in dry and cracked soil until you find water. But this water is actually a spring of great refreshing. It lies just beneath the surface of our driest set of circumstances. Remember, Jesus promised that rivers of living water would flow from our hearts (see John 7:38). The Holy Spirit will give you water to sustain you through the dry and barren times.

Johnson, Bill. Strengthen Yourself in the Lord: How to Release the Hidden Power of God in Your Life (p. 148). Destiny Image. Kindle Edition.

It is very important to believe this is true. For then we are conscious of the fact that we are NEVER far from water! And when we stir up the passion of our hearts for the promises of God in a place of weakness, we not only create a spring, we attract the outpouring of the Spirit that covers that place with pools—new realms of anointing. When we discover springs beneath our dry moments, we attract rain. Water attracts water. Correctly stewarding the Holy Spirit’s work in our past (digging in dry places) attracts the water of outpouring (that which is to come). This is Kingdom stewardship: taking the barren areas of our lives, the places of unfulfilled dreams and great disappointment, and drawing the springs of life from our own hearts, knowing that the Holy Spirit lives within us and is never without life to give. He who has promised is faithful. Fulfilling the demands of this principle of stewardship is how we “go from strength to strength,” and ultimately reach our destination, appearing “before God in Zion”—a picture that not only speaks of going to Heaven when we die, but of becoming people who live from Heaven toward earth, right now.

Johnson, Bill. Strengthen Yourself in the Lord: How to Release the Hidden Power of God in Your Life (pp. 148-149). Destiny Image. Kindle Edition.