Sunday January 23rd, 2005
Series: Raising the level of Expectation part V
Sermon: Proverbs 3:5-7
If you will change your thinking, God can change your life.
Scripture:
God is a just God and He knows when you aren’t being treated right. He knows when things aren’t going your way or when you are being taken advantage of. He has promised to take all the stuff, even the evil that has been in your life and turn it around for good.
Here’s the question—Are you willing to change your thinking? Will you take the limits off what God can do in your life? Will you start believing for bigger and better things? Will you raise the standard of living up a notch in your life this month? And the next, up one? And each month here on out?
God did not intend for you to have the lifestyle that some of us have set for ourselves and got ourselves to believe we should live. He has intended all along that that you are to live a life of overcoming victory, not the barely get by life.
God is called El Shaddai—the God of more than enough—not El Cheapo—the god of squeaking by.
God wants you to make room for more than enough. More increase. More favor. Don’t become satisfied with where you are. Don’t be like some who would say: If God wants to bless me, then He will. ASK., BELIEVE AND RECEIVE.
James 4:2-3 — Mark 11:22-25
Zechariah 12:10
Probably the most important message the Holy Spirit brings to us, is the message of grace. To teach you about faith, salvation, hope is great, but without grace they won’t amount to much.
Grace is an element of power from God, presented to us at the cross and ministered to us by the Holy Spirit. Grace the power that brings about change and makes available to do whatever needs to be done and the power to sustain the change.
EPHESIANS 2:8
Faith is not the price that buys the blessings of God, it is the hand that receives them. Faith is trusting in God to do what He says and receive what He gives and it’s all done because He loves us.
EPHESIANS 3:7-8
Grace is an element of God that ushers in the soothing calm and peace that passes all understanding. Grace removes the frustration you have brought upon yourself by trying to do it your way and by your strength, when you enter back into God’s presence and power.
ACTS 20:32
This needs to be said: Don’t, Do Not, be discouraged if change doesn’t come as quickly as you’d like. Many times over, change takes time. WHY? God wants the changes He makes in your life to be permanent , not just a quick fix for a few days.
Don’t just receive the grace that saves, but grace upon more grace so you may live a victorious life for Jesus day to day.
It’s time to stop being passive about the gifts and blessings God has for you. Stop living with false humility and being mediocre and start living with expectation to receive God’s best and live your best for Him. Does God make junk? Does He give us junk? Okay.
I CORINTHIANS 3:21
God wants you to be the one in your family to rise up and put an end to some stinkin thinking and set some new godly standards. So what if there are two or more in the family doing it—just think, that adds up to even more of God active in your life!
Rise up and with God’s help, turn the tide of the negatives and send them right back to hell from where they came. Declare—this is the day that God ahs made—I will rejoice and be glad in it! Things are going to change, they have to change, when God is before me, who can stand against me!
NEWS FLASH—pressing on, running the course, perseverance and willingness are something that is your responsibility, it’s the part you have to do—change the circumstance is God’s!
This is your new attitude: I don’t care how defeated this family has been in the past, this is a new day. This is the age of glorious expectation filled with God’s explosive power that will tear down and demolish strong holds in our life! I boldly declare that we are more than conquerors.
Get some determination and ask God to put some fire in your spirit. Speak in terms of victory because your words have some amazing power. Speak about what you can do. Start knowing instead of just thinking. Stay focused on God. Stay in an attitude of faith, be the one to make a difference and go beyond the barriers of the past. No longer accept the status quo and whatever comes your way. You were born to win—you decide what you want in your life because you were born for greatness, you were created to be champions of faith!
I PETER 2:5-9
Stop praying like you were inconveniencing God and disrupting His busy schedule—He always has time for you. How can you get a new car, house, clothes, pay the bills off, when you don’t make that much? How can anything happen for you like that? Maybe you don’t have enough paycheck for the month—what do you have to lose in believing God for it?
Don’t ask God to do the things for you that you can do, but ask Him to do for you what you can’t. For example, ministry…
My friends, God is speaking to you and saying, you’ve been at this mountain long enough, it’s time to go to a new level. You can either start climbing or take a wilderness journey.
NEWS FLASH: God wants to do more than you think.
It’s time for fresh visions and refreshing what has already been shown to you. Tear down strongholds in your mind, capture every thought. Remove the barriers of the past—forgive and move on already. You are built to hold…
Acts 2:47
No matter what anybody in your family has or hasn’t done, no matter what naysayers say, don’t let those things impose limitations on you. Make up your mind that you are going to be the one to set the new standard. Be the one to affect new generations. Be the one who trusts God with all their heart, soul, mind and body.
Proverbs 3:5-6
It’s time to increase in favor. No matter how many people tell you what you’re attempting can’t be done, you persevere and declare the favor of God, stay in an attitude of faith, and God will open doors for you and change your circumstances.
God has crowned you with glory and honor—honor can be translated: favor, which means to assist, to provide special advantages and to receive preferential treatment. However, to experience that, you have to look for it, to be favor-minded, to expect God to be in your life everyday, in all things.
I’m a child of God. My Daddy is the creator of the universe and He crowned me with favor. Therefore, I can expect preferential treatment. Not because of who I am, but because of whose I am.
ROMANS 8:1-17
That is the spiritual correlation with the physical. We are treated certain ways because of association. Get up every day and declare all day long, what you know is the truth. Just because it hasn’t happened yet, doesn’t mean it’s not so. Paycheck example.
When you get in a situation that needs favor, declare it, even in the little things like parking spaces (good testing ground). But what happens if you don’t get that space? Then you get out and walk, and with every step, you thank God that you are healthy and strong and have the ability to walk.
Just because I don’t get what I wanted, doesn’t mean that I’m going to quit believing in the favor of God. I know that God always has His best interest in His heart for me and He is working everything out for my good. Delay could mean missing an accident or cause me to bump into somebody that needs to be encouraged, someone who needs a smile.
No matter what does or doesn’t happen, you must keep believing the favor of God in your life. Do your part and God will do His.
