All right. The Lord, this morning when I woke up, he said to deal with this and take authority over some things, so that's what we're going to do, right?
So, chapter 26 of Proverbs, like snow in summer and like rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a short-sighted fool.
Like the sparrow in her wandering, like the swallow in her flying, so the curse without cause does not come and a light on the undeserving.
I think the King James says a curse cannot rest where the blessing is.
And so, we've had just different warnings in the spirit of, you know, churches are always being cursed or talked against.
And a curse can sound like cussing, and it can sound like just like they're never going to make it kind of thing.
Those can be simple ways. And then there's the prophetic. People who know what they're doing can curse a place.
And we had a really awesome service when we first started Word of Life in Colorado, and there were people getting saved and things like that.
And the man that was ministering, later he had a word and he said, ickabod is on your door.
And he went on and proceeded to bring a curse. We were like, no, no, you missed it by a little bit there.
So he ended up getting corrected. And, you know, so our words have the weight of the spirit. Amen?
Our words have the weight of the spirit, whether you're in the wrong spirit or the right spirit.
There's weightiness to your words. They're capsules of faith. And so we have to watch what we say.
At the same time, a curse will not rest where the blessing is.
And so this place, Word of Life, believes in the blessing.
Someone just said recently to me, they said, well, I don't know if I believe in that prosperity message.
Well, or they call it the prosperity gospel. Well, gospel is good news.
And the good news is that Jesus brought us the blessing.
So if you don't believe in the prosperity gospel, you're not going to prosper.
And you can't have what you speak against, right?
So whether someone contorted something or somebody, you know, twisted something or whatever,
that's a whole different issue. That's a man's problem, a woman's problem.
But the Bible itself is true. And the blessing is ours. It belongs to us.
This place is blessed, highly favored of God.
We have the blessing. We're blessed in the city and in the country and in our going in and our coming out.
Anything we set our hand to do will prosper in the mighty name of Jesus.
And he just told me to, you know, just speak that out because there has been cursing, there has been things.
And I think it's just increased right now because just even the fact that just we're online a lot.
And so that gives exposure and people talk smack about things they're not even participating in.
Be careful, you don't do that.
Don't watch something online and be like, that ministry, you don't know, you've never been there.
Right? Same thing with other people.
But the curse can't rest where the blessing is.
So the word curse has the idea of picture to it to subtract from you.
Did you know that a form of cursing can be a crusty look?
Like if I had my head down and I was getting ready and Kevin said, go ahead and start.
And I look up and I look at you in the front row.
If you allow me to, if you don't know that you're blessed, I just subtracted from him.
Just by a crusty look. Now I just move on like nothing happened.
Right? Chicks are good at this.
Women. The whole roll-eye, whatever.
It's a form of like, I'm going to subtract from you.
You're not all right. This is, this, I'm not approving of what's going on.
And so curses can just go and hold a valley of array of levels,
but it can't rest where the blessing is.
The only time, if someone was to come up and just curse me to my face or whatever,
the only time I'd be porous to that is if I was out of faith when it came to the blessing.
If I sat there and was having a bad day and it was like somebody's just like,
you'll never and all this kind of stuff. And it'd be like, yeah, I know.
Well, you're just, you're porous to it now.
It can rest there. A curse can rest there.
So as a whole, as a prayer group, as a unified body,
we have to be unified on the fact that we are blessed.
We are empowered to prosper, to have success down the road.
Highly favored of God.
Where His children are under the blood of Jesus.
And so when you look at that, it's like, well, that just refutes.
It just pushes it back and rebukes that.
Without even saying a word, it just emanates from you when you know you have the blessing.
You know, when you have, you know, you have the blessing, you also have authority.
People who are downtrodden, oh my soul.
You know, when they're in that spot or they're crushed, it's a dangerous spot from them
because they've lost sight that they're blessed.
They've lost sight of that.
And that's the point of sin is to get you to lose sight of that.
So that, you know, the devil can't do all kinds of certain things to us.
He can only set it up where you can open up to him.
That's why he then enters and does his work or bidding of that whole kingdom.
And so we can't open ourselves up to it.
That's why we have to stay in faith.
We've been in spots where it's like, I don't know, we're going to pay for groceries.
We're just going to have to do without this or whatever, but we're still blessed.
That's just stuff moving around here on the earth.
You're just waiting for something to manifest from the heavenlies.
There's a change about to take place, but I'm blessed.
You don't measure it like the world because it will open you up to the demonic realm.
Same thing with curses regarding health.
I mean, I love the fact that many times hospitals save people, but it is a house of cursing.
And most of the time it's just, the doctor doesn't have it.
He just said, this is what I saw on the x-ray, and then we start up.
We start cursing ourselves.
We start, you know, letting someone else, oh, it's too bad what Bill went through.
You know, and it's probably going to die that way at all the stuff.
And now the curses come, and all you had was a diagnosis.
What you do with the diagnosis is according to your faith
and how you feel about the blessing and the benefits of God.
So I'm saying this before we ever go get into what we were going to talk about this morning,
because I'd like you to stand and we're going to retract some things here
and take authority over some things.
So that's, I have fun doing this.
By the way, I do, because I'm blessed.
And so Father, as a church and as the lead church to the other churches
that we are involved in and the other ministries, Lord, we retract anything.
We pull back anything.
We cast out anything that would have come out of our mouth that aligned us with the curse.
We are not subtractors from the blessing.
We have the blessing and can add to the blessing as he empowers us.
Thank you, Lord God, that you're doing this work in us.
We cut off anything or any alignment that we made with the curse.
Anyone watching online, you can cut off that in the name of Jesus.
Those words that you said retract them, take them back, throw them under a train.
However you want to look at it, just get gone.
We're not going to participate.
We're not covenanting with that kind of talk.
And so we are in covenant with a God who is good.
A covenant with a God who is there.
He's with us. He's always with us.
He never leaves us nor forsakes us.
So we thank you, Lord God, that you're cleansing this place from all forms of curse in Jesus' name.
So if anyone says something, you know, it's just going to fall off.
Just because we set that standard, it falls off because we don't receive that.
Amen?
You know, witches are people who are in low level acting.
You can go ahead and sit down acting like they're a witch.
Which is manipulation, domination, control, taking over, speaking into people's lives.
That's many times how they'll just say something to you very pointed.
Like you're not going to make it.
I'll see that happening for you.
And we picture it more like, you know, the cauldron and they're mixing something.
I have newton, all this stuff, you know.
And then they say something, rattle the bones and say something to your whatever.
Now, most curses are not like that.
They're very subtle.
Very subtle.
Not here.
Not on you.
Not on me.
We're not porous to it in Jesus' name.
Alright, let's get back to being a watchman.
See, part of a watchman is what I just did.
It can be as simple as that.
It's like, as I was climbing up the tower, I saw something.
And the Lord said, deal with that.
And we read that, you know, in the scripture last week.
And we'll go over a little bit of it again today.
Isaiah 111, in the Amplified I'm reading.
Come now and let us reason together.
This is what happens when we climb the tower.
Come now.
Let us reason together.
The word reason there is have communion.
Have a deep talk.
Have covenant type conversation.
It isn't chit chat.
You know, when you got chit chat going, everybody pops a joke.
And there's, you know, it's just chit chat.
It's kind of fun talk.
But when something is a reasoning, it's like everybody goes quiet
and you bring your best thought forward.
That's a reasoning.
Come, let us reason together, says the Lord.
Though your sins are like scarlet, they should be as white as snow.
Though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool.
And if you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the best of the land.
But if you refuse and rebel and you shall then you shall be devoured
by the sword for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Now, he's speaking into and can apply to us,
but he is speaking into a situation, right?
He's back in the day.
But these things prophetically move forward many times.
And a lot of times people will quote that verse once again.
Any of the famous verses, it's usually just a little bit we quote.
Come, let us reason together.
And we don't, we never get to the part where we're really quoting like,
though your sins, like start, let's start dealing with the sin part.
Though they are red like crimson, they should be like wool.
And the one here that it says I think in the King James,
it'll say you shall eat the good of the land.
But if you are willing and obedient, you should eat the best of the land,
which is really the good of the land.
Amplified breaks that down into this.
And as watchmen, we are looking to be willing and obedient.
How many times have we been obedient without being willing?
We see it in the training of obedience.
You know, if you tell your child to take the garbage out.
You know, they're, they're, they're obedient.
They'll pull it off.
I mean, you're like, all right, it's a garbage out.
The whole time they were not willing.
There's something different that changes in our heart
as we go in, in the basic land that we were talking about,
the basic area we live on,
climbing the tower is higher than our basic area.
That's why the church needs to know how to do that.
Climbing the tower in prayer,
coming up to higher things that, that are holy,
that are beyond how the world operates.
Otherwise we're just living in how the world operates,
and that's our big battle.
And the Lord wants us to master that.
I mean, we should be able to tire on shoes, eventually, right?
But he also wants us to come up to, to holy things.
So there's a whole maturity in that.
But he wants us to learn willing and obedience.
And, and when we read in Ezekiel,
we read in Habakkuk last,
Habakkuk last week,
when it talked about the job of the watchman,
I'm going to climb the tower
so that I can hear what you would say to me.
Well, what's the point of hearing it,
if we're not going to do it?
First, we have to be willing to climb the tower
to get to that spot.
Then we hear him,
then we have to be willing to do whatever it is
that he told us to do.
Amen?
Ah, I mean,
you think of Jonah,
you think of some of the different, you know,
characters in the Bible,
you think of yourself at the times where it's like,
alright, I'll do it.
But there wasn't really a willingness to there.
And there's a lot of suffering that goes in
to the part of the willingness.
We'll think there's a suffering
having to do with the obedience.
It's like, it's so hard to be obedient.
No, it's hard to be willing.
If we get the first part
changed in our heart,
then whatever he says, I'll do it.
Whatever he says, I'll just go do it.
Oh, it's gut-wrenching.
And then the obedience really should follow
in a simpler form.
Because you're already willing.
See, so if you're wrestling with obedience
in an area, the area you have to
think of is not the obedience,
it's the willing heart.
So it's the willing and the obedient
that will eat the good of the land
or the best of the land.
The land that we take can be
emotionally, spiritually, mentally,
physically.
We have to take land.
And there's the best of it
in each area.
But it's only brought by the word
and the spirit. Those two together,
it's the word and the spirit that brings that
for us to be able to be in a spot
where we can eat the best of the land.
Amen.
So, the next
subject then I guess this morning
is really simple. It's
how do you get a willing heart?
And you know,
if I think about me and my
childhood and what made me willing, it was
a switch. And I really
don't want to have to do that every time
to get to a spot where I'm just willing.
You know what I mean?
You can remember that in your flash, you're like
I don't want to do it or whatever. The willing was
the problem. I'm not willing to listen
to you. I don't see where I should
have to. I don't think this is fair.
I'm not going to do it. I'm not
willing. So therefore the fruit
of that is not going to be obedience.
So, if you got
the switch, if you got whatever you got,
I don't care if it's time out to whatever
your thing you do,
it's there should be something
where you feel it in your flesh.
Like fasting.
You'll feel it in your
flesh.
That's why he chooses fasting
because fasting makes
you willing.
But then you first have to be willing to fast.
So there's a hard issue.
The hardest issue is, you know,
he's told us to fast and pray.
Most of the church across America doesn't
fast and pray.
Except for a religious holiday or something,
and they almost feel like their legs are falling off
and they're dying over.
I went without pop.
I remember we had a Daniel
fast and there was a young person
who chose, there were a couple of them that chose
to just do without pop.
And we just went a week without
pop.
And when they came off of it
they were crying.
They were so broken because it just
I'm not making fun of it.
I'm just saying that's pretty
pitiful.
That's not going to go well in a concentration camp
or any form of suffering
that we would have to do at any point
in our life. You ain't going to make it
because we don't have pop. That's just one thing.
And so to deny yourself
TV, to deny yourself
different things, it isn't a rule.
It isn't
behavioral
modification.
We just modify all these things
and our heart will be right.
No, your heart has to be right to even be willing
to participate in any of those things.
It's the willing heart.
And a big part
of prayer is the willing.
Now I think, and I wasn't there
the disciples
that were in the garden with Jesus
and he was like,
can you pray with me for an hour?
There's a difference
between willing and obedience
and maybe they were trying to be obedient.
Willing has
hang time.
It has hang time.
You're just like, I'm fighting
for my right to stay. I'm not
falling asleep. I'm committed to this
because I said I will.
And to a choice
of your will is a choice
like your whole soul said
we're doing this. Your spirit said we're doing this.
Your body then just has to
follow. And so it
comes across different. You don't crash
out right away.
It's not something that
I didn't make it on everything. Well,
I made it twice to janitor
of the church, but it's
hard.
It's just really hard.
Well, is that
an obedient problem because God told you to
do that? No, that's a willing problem.
So to get
in that spot
the first place I would say
to have a willing heart is a prayer and
fasting.
You're not going to climb the
tower just because you
babbled tongues for
five minutes. Whoo!
There we go. Now God, download
it to me, you know.
On the other hand, you don't want to get into works
like I have to pray two hours before he
talks to me. That's, no, that's
that whole thing of performance
mentality, but there
is a thing that to
climb this tower is going to take effort.
It's going to take
servanthood. It's going to have to have
that willing heart. The whole
you know, thing with
80% of people, which I don't think that's
that way anymore. I think it's actually kind
of worse. We got a good thing going on
here where 80% of the
people do nothing and 20% in
the church do the ministry. I think we
have a pretty good thing.
Lot of you are ministering inside the church
outside the church. It's like, whoo-whoo!
That's awesome.
Um, but
I think that's
that also why we're willing
there's something here that
has to be willing enough already
to show up for open heavens and know
that it could go to two in the morning if we need to.
You have to be willing
to do that. And so revival
in itself, you know, we can pray
Lord, send revival.
Right? Do all the work.
Come on. We'll just wait and be surprised
for him. And then we'll step up and do
some. No, he's not going to send
revival until we have a willing heart
because then he knows when we're willing, we're also
obedient and we're doing the things that it takes
to receive revival.
Then revival comes.
Amen? He's not sloppy agape.
He's just, he's our God.
And he has a way
of doing things that's absolutely
mature.
And since I'm not absolutely mature
I always have to be challenged
in the area
of obedience. And when he tells me
to do something, then I'm not
looking at should I be obedient
to that. The first thing you're really
looking at is am I willing?
And I got saved in 1981
it was a radical thing
from coming out of the life that I lived
and the demonic problems
I had and all the stuff that was
wrapped up in bondage when I came out
of that. I remember
being at the altar just a baby
Christian and just I told him
whatever you want. You can
ask me to stand in my head in the corner if that'll
get people saved, I'll do that.
I'm willing.
You know, so over the years he took me up
at that.
I've ministered
in the weirdest places
doing the wildest things.
I had a clown ministry
for a while.
I mean, it's like how do I get the kids?
How do I get the kids in my neighborhood?
I'm stuck here
doing daycare and working in the house.
Well, you don't just go, well, I told
the Lord I was willing to evangelize
children, but I'm stuck in the house.
So I guess this is my little evangelism.
No, God will make a way,
but you have to be willing.
And this is he laid out a whole plan of how
we were going to do this. And we had big parties
at the house and kids from all over the neighborhood
would come over
and they were getting saved. Then I would take them back
to the house and I would say, hey, I'm so
glad that you let them come over.
I just wanted to share what we shared with them.
Have you ever heard this? And I share the gospel.
And people get
saved.
But I had to be willing.
Amen.
So,
if the church,
the body of Christ
would come into a spot
where we're ruling this land here
in the lower land,
the lower land where you can live your whole life
and still go to heaven,
the lower land that's actually
we think is the hardest thing, but it's the easiest.
Because once you see things
on the tower, more responsibility comes.
That's why people really don't want to climb
the tower. Somehow inside of them, they're like,
I don't really want to see any more than what
I'm seeing. That's a lot
of responsibility. Then I'd have to respond
with my ability and I don't
feel like I have much.
Yet God will change
this. He'll stir on the low land
and then also bring
you up, but we have to be willing.
So the prayer this morning
is a prayer to create
in us a willing heart.
I
don't want to suffer so I
have a willing heart.
I don't want the switch so I could get
a will. Suddenly you're willing.
You're like, okay, now I'll do that.
Suddenly there are hard changes
and you're willing.
Then you go be obedient.
I don't want
us as a church to waste
time. We're supposed to buy
up every moment for the days are wicked.
I want to buy up every moment.
I don't want my
unwilling heart
to interrupt
where God's taking us.
So
you beat your body into submission.
Well, how are you going to do that? You got a stick
and you're hitting it. I need you to be willing.
I mean, what are you doing?
The best thing you can do is take away
its source and that's fasting.
Take away
its source.
And then if it's
fasting food,
your flesh is
like, it feels like, what? Where do you know
where'd you go? You know, I mean all
of that starts happening. And then
the heart begins to soften
if you're doing it with the right
intention. God, I need to be
different. I need to know how to be willing.
I need to
be in that realm where if you say go do
this, I say yes, sir.
See
the disciple or the
one who ended up taking
care of Mother Mary.
Jesus was on the cross and said
to do that, right?
The reason he had the honor
of doing that. That wasn't a burden.
I mean, he's the son of God.
This is his mother.
Right? And
for him to be able to take care of you, you know what?
It said it, he was on standby.
And the word standby
is that he was ready.
If you're on standby, you're not getting
ready. Your heart is already
like what do you want me to do, Lord?
He says it, I do it. He says it, I do it.
He says it, I do it. You don't
take a lot of time in the willing heart
to debate whether or not you can.
Right?
That's the fear part that we're trained, but
how? And then the money... and I don't know
and I've never been a good speaker.
And I...
You know?
The little puppet comes up in your head.
You have to
you have to
you have to quiet that
with fasting.
And then sometimes people can go without
food and then they watch a ton of TV.
You know, have you noticed that we'll
pendulum and we're like gravitating? I gotta
feed this somehow. Take that away.
How much can you get done just
not watching TV?
Oh my goodness, it takes
a lot of time.
Yeah?
So, the things many
times that we'll say we can't do
and I never had a chance or whatever, well
that a willing heart will
shift your priorities.
The church of Jesus Christ
the Lord's church
has to have this shift right now that's going on.
It's a shift of priorities.
It's a shift
it's not about us. It's a shift that says
we're looking higher. What is it?
I want to see what you see, Lord.
I don't want to have my own ideas.
I want to see into what you see.
So, let's stand.
Hallelujah.
Thank you, Lord God.
Now,
some of you I can feel it already
you're like if I pray that
somehow I'm going to get a whooping.
You know, I mean that's kind of the feeling like
something's going to happen that he's going to make me
well,
if you need a whooping to get willing
then that's a real strong
issue, right?
Then we already know the heart's not obedient.
Then this is a really
strong problem.
So it would be better
preventative care is always better.
Like we see into the like, let's deal with this over here
before we get ourselves in trouble.
You know what I'm saying?
And so, that's
the part that as we're asking
he's going to begin to soften our hearts.
Yes, he's going to want to deal with more issues.
Anything that's blocking
us from being willing has to
we have to be willing to bring it up,
willing to talk about it, willing to
confront it, willing to say, hey, I have a fear
in this area. I didn't realize
that I'm willing to deal with it.
No denial,
no disassociation.
To be a watchman
on the wall
is very difficult without a willing heart.
Then we're all talk.
I saw rainbow in the sky
and he showed me this
and all of this stuff starts coming out
but we're not willing to wash
a toilet when he told us to
at the church. It's like
that doesn't equal.
You have to have a willing heart
to serve. And so, Father
we come before you right now.
We're asking not just for ourselves
but a cleansing for our families
and for all of the churches.
That there would be a great
move of your spirit
that would come through and soften us
in a way, prayer and fasting
is something we want to do.
Lord God, you'll create
in us a new heart, that heart
that just craves after
you.
In those areas especially
where we haven't been obedient
where we've had to kind of put it
to the side, where we've made excuses
God, I'm asking right now
that you would move upon us
in this way
that would bring about change.
Your will
is to do your will
the will and testaments
of the Bible.
The thing that you left here for us to do
the thing that says go
go into all the world
the thing that says move
that says faith in action
thank you Lord
we align with your will.
Let's pray in the spirit a little bit.
We say
this is...
...
We are back to our hearts, to the deep inner parts of our heart, where fear lies, that there
be an uprooting. A cleansing. A redirection. Give a sight to ourselves.
We cannot climb the tower without sight to ourselves.
Like Roman says, to give a good estimate of where we're at. So we know if we're being disobedient,
but Lord God, the worst is to be unwilling.
I think you're doing this, Lord God, because we intend to eat the good of the land.
We intend to eat the good of the land. That is our intention in the name of Jesus.
Let's have the band come just so you're in position.
An unwilling heart looks at what you don't have
when it should be looking at what you're willing to do.
Holy Spirit is just speaking into this. It's a very spiritual thing as he stirs on our heart.
He stirs on us. It's super on the natural. Every person's at a different spot.
Start with the little things that come to you first, if you were supposed to give a certain
amount. If you were supposed to be a certain place. If you shore these things up
and culture the willing heart.
We cannot act like we're on the tower. Way up high on the tower.
We're seeing so many things. He will not show us those things
without a willing heart to do the small things.
Just like in Habakkuk, the prophet said,
I will stand at my guard post and station myself on the tower.
I will keep watch to see what he will say to me and what answer I will give
as his spokesman when I am reproved, when he comes to correct us.
The correction starts on the mainland, on the ground that's level with us.
Reprove, correct us so that we can climb that tower and hear even more
so we can be changed in your likeness.
Whenever you make an oath, a promise, a covenant statement, it usually starts
with, Lord, I know this is what you're saying. And then you say, I will.
I will evangelize for you, Lord, show me the people. I will. And whatever it is,
usually I will, which means the will of I right here is choosing to line up with his will.
And the word will for him is his precepts, his commands, his ways of doing things.
I will. The eye of my will lines up with your will, the I am, the complete will.
I don't have all the pictures. I don't see everything. You're going to call me to the tower.
We're being called to the tower to speak into this region, to speak into our families, to speak
if close up and all the way far out all across the world we're speaking into.
On the mainland we have to have a willing heart to climb the tower the right way so we don't fall.
He's so careful to protect us. He doesn't want anyone to fall. That's why he set up his will
for us to be changed so we could handle the heavenly things because we're from an earthly realm.
The willing heart changes and grows so we can house more and more of the anointing,
more and more of the anointing that breaks every yoke of bondage. Then we not only hear from him
at a higher level we see in two things that are discerning.
He says that the secrets of the Lord are like hidden under a rock.
You could be right now in your life walking. You've been walking on the same trail and the
rock is right here. And you don't even know his secret for you is under the rock.
The rock is the type of Jesus.
The secrets of your life are hidden under the rock. And as we seek you Lord and we become
willing because you're you're the one we're the servant to Jesus. And ultimately the Father
the Holy Spirit's getting us ready not only as a bride but ready and for war and ready for
all the other things you've assigned us to that we have to have the willing heart.
You're willing your ways Lord. You're willing your ways we line up with.
There's people watching online and there's people here that really the secret that's
under the rock well that rock you can flip over you can look you can seek for it till you find it
and you flip it over and there it is there it is the secret for your life.
But he gives secrets to those first who are willing.
The secret things of the of the kingdom are for the willing.