The Person Of Faith

All right, if you have your Bibles, turn with me to Hebrews chapter 11. Thank You, Lord. Hebrews chapter 11. We’ve been in a study going through the book of Hebrews, and we’ve been here longer than I anticipated. I was originally thinking we were going to be in there for a couple months, but it’s been more than that. But the Lord’s been so good to us, because He’s giving us a picture really of just how great He is and how wonderful He is, and really what He’s accomplished, and what is happening in the heavens, and where do we fit in all of that.

And this book was written to believers who were discouraged in faith. They were wondering if they made the right decision to follow Jesus, because they were facing persecution and things were happening, and they were like, “Maybe it’s better if I just go back to the way things were.” But how many of you know there’s no one and nothing better than Jesus? And when you surrender all and you give Him your all and you choose to follow Him, that really isn’t even an option. Because when you give yourself to Him and you make Him the Lord of your life, your old self has passed away. You’re dead. And so really, everything that you have, everything that you are belongs to Him.

But when we get uncomfortable, we sometimes tense up. You know what I’m saying? We kind of get those knee-jerk reactions and we’re like, “Wait, wait, wait, Lord, I don’t know if I like this.” You know what I mean? But the Lord has a big plan for your life, and there’s things that He wants to do. And there’s this process called sanctification, where the Holy Spirit begins to make you more like Jesus. The more you fix your eyes on the Lord, the more you become like Him. And that’s the work of the Holy Spirit.

And that’s why all of a sudden the things that you used to say, you don’t say anymore. The things that used to satisfy you, or the things that you felt like would make you happy — all of a sudden you realize that’s really nothing in comparison to who the Lord Jesus Christ is. He changes everything. He really does. And you might not have experienced that in the moment. Sometimes it can happen very quickly, but usually there’s things that the Holy Spirit will be working with you on for your lifetime. But know that the whole time, if you fix your eyes on the Lord, He will not only fill you with Himself, He will make you like Himself. Amen? Isn’t the Lord wonderful?

Can we just lift our hands to the Lord? Lord, we thank You for Your Word. Wonderful Holy Spirit, speak to our hearts, Lord, that we would know You, Lord, that we would see You. We give You the praise, and we give You glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

We’re going to go through Hebrews chapter 11. This is often referred to as the chapter of faith. And there are examples, these biblical accounts — you could call it the biblical Hall of Fame. There are these names that are examples given to us of people who were filled with faith, who walked in the promises of God, and who believed God to the very end. Even if they didn’t see everything, they trusted Him to the end. And that’s really what this chapter in this book is about. It’s about following Jesus to the very end.

And how many of you know that really should be each one of our goals? That this isn’t just a moment or a season of life — honestly, you haven’t even reached the pinnacle of your walk with Jesus. I want you to hear that today. You think you might have hit the high point, and maybe you’re in a little bit of a dip, but the Lord has so much more for you. But He’s calling you to fix your eyes on Him. And so the goal for every believer is that when you are 10, 20, 30, 40, 60 years down the road, you would actually be more in love with Jesus then than you are right now. Let me tell you, it is possible. I said it is possible. But it requires a heart that is surrendered to Him and eyes that are fixed on Him. It’s not your work. It’s His work. All He’s asking is, “Will you surrender and trust Me?” Amen.

Faith is a substance

And so, Hebrews 11, we’re going to kind of go through this, and I’m going to start at verse 1. And it says, “Now faith” — everybody say “faith” — “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” I want to just pause right there. That’s the first thing I want us to notice: number one, faith is a substance. Faith is a substance. It is real. It is tangible. It’s not just a feeling. It’s not just a hope. It’s not just a “well, we’ll see.” There is tangible evidence of faith in your life, whether it is there or it is not. It is something that is real.

And why is faith a substance? Because God is. He is real. He is tangible. Scripture refers to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of faith. And so faith is a substance. It’s tangible. It’s real. That’s why, when His presence manifests and we come into the house of the Lord and we begin to worship, when we come into His presence, all of a sudden there is something in us. Our prayers tend to become shorter. We begin to declare who He is, and we begin to declare Scripture. Why? Because when the Lord shows up and the Holy Spirit shows up, faith is present and available, and we begin to pray.

I want us to capture this really quickly, because there’s an old saying that I used to hear growing up: if you have ten minutes to pray, worship for nine. If you have ten minutes to pray, worship for nine. Because you actually cannot pray effectively without first coming into the presence of the Lord. And then as we begin to worship, and as we begin to minister to Him — do you guys know what that means, minister to Him? It means we are serving Him. We are blessing. We’re giving things to Him. We’re offering to Him. That’s why sometimes we’ll say, “Oh, I’m in the ministry.” What does that mean? I serve others.

When we minister to the Lord in His goodness, He shows up every time. If you believe, He shows up every time. And when you begin to worship Him and declare who He is and you begin to bless Him, not only does He show up — everything that He is enters the room. I want you to think about that. Scripture says, what are the fruits of the Spirit? Who is the Lord? Well, He’s peace. He’s joy. He’s kindness. He’s gentleness. He’s healer. He’s Savior. He’s provider. He’s all these things. Everything that the Lord is comes into the room, and now those things are available to us if we will receive Him.

You see, as we worship, He manifests His presence. And because He is there, faith is available. And then when faith is available, I begin to pray, and I can know that He heard me, because He’s in the room. So when Jesus said, when you pray, go into the secret place, go into your room, shut the door, and pray in secret, and when you pray in secret, your Father will see you in secret and will answer you — there is something about coming into a place where the Lord is, where faith is present. Faith is a substance. It’s something that we receive from Him when we come into His presence.

That’s why Jesus said, don’t be like the heathen who use vain repetitions. They would try to get God’s attention. The ones that would serve false gods would do all these grand things trying to gain the attention of God. But we don’t need to get the attention of God. We just need to declare who He is and come into His presence. And so when we minister to the Lord, He manifests His presence, and then we pray, and we know He hears us.

Some of you got that. This is going to be one of those messages that you are going to have to listen to again. And it’s — well, I wish I had the words. I wish I was a better teacher. But it really is because this is a paradigm shift. This is not going to match your mentals. You have to experience this. And as I’m declaring it, I believe that some of you are going to enter into this place where you come into the presence of the Lord, and as you begin to just worship Him and your heart is offered to Him — can you think how precious that is to the Lord? That’s really what He wants: to be with you. That as you go into your room and you just begin to worship the Lord, we minister to the Lord, His presence comes, we pray, and we know that He hears us.

The most powerful moments of prayer have happened in my room. Some are in my car too. The car is pretty good, I’m not going to lie. I have experienced the Lord’s healing in my bedroom. It wasn’t because I was praying for healing. It was because I was blessing and praising the Lord. And I remember I just began to lift up my hands, I began to worship, I knew He was in that place, and I could literally sense His presence come into my body, and there was healing. I had gone to the doctor, and there were things in my body that were not there anymore.

We get so tied up sometimes in “well, when I pray, it’s about coming up with a prayer list.” Anybody got a prayer list? You should have a prayer list. I mean, He does say, “Let your requests be made known.” I’m not saying don’t pray and ask of God. You should have a prayer list. And I would tell you what’s on mine, but it’s private information. But if that’s all prayer is, our heart’s not connecting with God, and we’re missing out on something that is so beautiful to the Lord.

I grew up in the church, and I would hear people say, “I spent three hours with the Lord this morning.” I’m like, “What?” “Oh, for a season, for the whole summer, for three months straight, I prayed for eight hours a day.” I’m like, “Huh?” And I knew these were powerful people in the faith. These were people that I looked up to, people that I saw the power of God in their life. And I was like, “How do you pray?” Because I would come up with my prayer list and I would pray, and I would look at the clock and fifteen minutes had passed by, and I was like, “How on earth do you pray for eight hours?”

But you see, if it’s just bringing a prayer list and saying, “Lord, this is what I need You to do in my life” — amen — that gets very tiring, because really all you’re doing is bringing your problems and your issues to the Lord, and your focus is more on that than on the Lord Jesus Himself. But if you spend time ministering to the Lord, blessing the Lord, He manifests His presence, and when His presence comes, we begin to pray. Are you guys getting it? This is how you can pray for hours. This is how you can come and spend hours with Him.

I’ve mentioned this before: something that my wife and I like to do is go on our retreats once a year, and we just spend a few days with the Lord. And I always go in with my list. I have a list: “Lord, I need answers for this, this, this.” And as I come in, I begin to worship the Lord, and He gives me so much more. And usually those things on my list are still there, but He gives me exactly what I need every time. Faith is a substance. It is a substance, and it is available in the person of the Holy Spirit. When we begin to bless the Lord and we begin to worship Him, faith comes in the person of the Holy Spirit, and we begin to pray.

His presence is the evidence

So it says faith is the substance of things hoped for. It is the evidence — everybody say “the evidence” — the evidence of things not yet seen. Our culture has been trained to believe that the breakthrough is the evidence — that the miracle you’ve been praying for, when it happens, that’s the evidence. But that’s not what Scripture is saying. Our evidence is not the breakthrough. Our evidence is the presence of God Himself. When you begin to carry that on your life, when you begin to see that in your life and you’re encountering that daily, that is the evidence of the presence of faith. Everybody say this: “The presence of faith in my heart is the evidence that the one I believe in is real.”

That’s why, when someone is filled with true faith, they have nothing to prove. We want to be successful. We want others to view us with appeal and desire. We want to be esteemed. But someone that is truly filled with faith, whose heart fully belongs to Him, comes to a point in their walk with the Lord where “I have nothing to prove to anyone.”

Something that I’ve grown into and something that I’ve learned over time is that every opportunity that I receive from the Lord — whether it’s a promotion, whether it’s a job, whether it’s an assignment — first I ask the Lord, “Is this You?” But when I have a sense that this is the Lord, the first thing I do is say, “Lord, I give it back to You. This is not who I am.” Position, roles, titles — none of that defines me. I’ve already been defined by the one who gave it all on the cross. I’ve already been called righteous by God through Jesus Christ. None of these things define me.

Really, our first assignment as people who are believers in Christ Jesus is to be with Him, is to love Him, is to want more of Him. And if we can actually maintain that posture, if we can be people whose hearts fully belong to Him, where He is everything, if we can walk in that, all the plans, everything that He has, comes to pass. You see, when we come to the point where we have nothing to prove because we believe in someone greater, there is a rest and assurance that comes on the inside. You see, I don’t have to create an outcome to believe that God is real. I don’t even have to see my prayers answered to believe that God is real. I can live in a way that is fully surrendered and know the Lord is with me.

There have been times where I’ve ministered — and I would like to see this more, Lord Jesus, please — but there have been times where I’ve been ministering and I would see people, and I knew in my heart that the Lord was going to heal that person. That I would pray for them and they would be healed. And it’s happened. But there was a faith that was there before it had happened. Does that make sense? They were sick. There were physical limitations. And I knew in my heart the Lord not only wants to heal them, the Lord is going to heal them, and when I pray, they are going to be healed. It was like I had already lived there before it even happened. That was the faith. It was a substance. There was something that was real. The fact that I know that He will do it is the evidence of that faith.

And so here’s what I want us to know today. This is so important: we need to be more aware of His presence than the need for our breakthrough. We need to be more aware that Jesus is available, that He wants to be with you, and that as you begin to worship, He is there. You need to be more aware of that than your daily needs, because the Lord already knows what you have need of. But what we need is Him. Amen. And so it’s His presence that is proof that you have a breakthrough coming.

So Scripture says faith is the substance of things hoped — is this okay? Are we good? You guys drink Benadryl this morning? My wife and I went on a date a couple weeks ago. We try to do those regularly, but we’re both very busy. But when we do, we like to take advantage of it. And before, she was having some allergies, and so she’s like, “I’m just going to take some Benadryl.” I was like, “I don’t think that’s a good idea. This is date night. It’s six o’clock. I don’t think that’s a good idea.” And so she took a Benadryl, and we order dinner, and I look at her, and all of a sudden I see her start massaging her head and kind of rubbing her neck, and I’m like, “Oh, she’s going down for the count.” I’m pretty sure we left for dinner at six o’clock and we were home by 7:30.

Not going to prayer, but going to Jesus

Let’s read this. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” In other words, the visible, the creation — it all came out of the invisible by the word of the Lord. That’s a good plug for the creation class next week.

Verse 4 says, “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him.’” How would you like that on your résumé? Huh? “For before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”

Verse 6 says, “But without faith” — everybody say “without faith” — “it is impossible to please Him.” Notice: “for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” There it is. Faith is a substance, and as we come into His presence, He comes with all that He is, and there is faith available. This is why it’s so important to the Lord that we be people of faith, people who actually seek Him, people who spend time in His presence — that we would elevate that above all the other things.

You know, many of us get up in the morning — well, all of us get up in the morning. Maybe you have a coffee. I do. And usually one of the first things that most of us do is we start getting on our phone. We start scrolling. And then after a few minutes we think, “You know, maybe I should actually get in the Word, spend some time with the Lord, maybe start getting to my prayer list.” And if that’s really all that our walk with the Lord is about, it would get very tiring. That is hard. If really all our relationship with Jesus is is a task, it becomes a burden. It becomes heavy pretty quick.

But what if we don’t go to prayer, but instead we go to Jesus? I mean, what if instead of coming to church, we’re not just coming to church — we’re going to the Lord Jesus? What if instead of singing songs to the Lord, I’m coming to the Lord Jesus Himself? Do you see the subtle difference there? It’s just a subtle degree of difference, but I believe that’s what the Lord is wanting to bring us today. It’s not about the task. It’s about the person.

And to come face to face with Jesus is so much more enticing than reading my daily devotional. Those are pretty good, and Jesus is in that, but only if we have the right heart — a heart that says, “No, I am coming to the Lord. I’m going to be with Jesus. I’m going to worship Him, and I’m going to see Him.” Do you see the difference there? Because now it’s not about the action. Now it’s not about the religious duty, which is all dead. None of that matters. All that matters is Jesus, and that we would come to Him. So we don’t just go to prayer. We go to Jesus. Amen.

And those little shifts in our spiritual perspective really make all the difference, because they cause us to hear and to see what the Lord is doing. And so we need to shift our minds from habit and routine and be awakened to the presence of Jesus. Is this okay?

If your heart is in heaven

Listen to this. Verse 7 says, “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” So what if, at that time, God asked you to build a boat, and there was never a boat before? What if God said it was going to rain, but that had never even happened? It’s an interesting assignment. It took faith. It took trust in Him. Noah grabbed on to that by faith.

“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.” God didn’t tell Abraham where he was going. God just said, “Get up and go.” “By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations.”

Oh, this is so important. This is so important. Abraham dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac, the heirs with him. Verse 10: “He waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” You see, the reason Abraham had strength to go into a foreign land was because he knew of another city. If you aim for the stars and miss, you still hit the mountaintop. In the same way, if your heart is in heaven, you’ll conquer the land. But if your heart is in the land, you’ll only see the giants.

You know, I’ve mentioned this before, and it’s probably a well-known fact at this point, but I’ve said before that my assignment isn’t about filling buildings. It’s not about increasing a church budget. My assignment is to be with the Lord, and as I am with the Lord, He adds all those things. I’ve gotten to the point — and I’ve been there before — where if I never got to preach the Word of God again, or if I never was able to lead people in worship, honestly, I’m good. I would miss it, but I’m good. Because I have Him, I have everything.

And so when we live in that posture — that really nothing belongs to me, not even my assignment from God, it doesn’t belong to me, it’s all His — do you realize how freeing that is? Because I’m not motivated by anything but the Lord Himself. Our only standard for “Hey, was Sunday good?” when we have our little powwow really is: was the Lord there? That’s all that matters. That’s really the only measure. Was the Lord there? That is our win. He is our win. That is our success. He is our success. We want more of Him. We don’t need everything else. He’ll take care of all those things, as we begin to lift up the Lord Jesus.

Jesus said when the Son of Man is lifted up, I will draw all men to Myself. So whose job is it to get people into the church? It’s really not our job. Our job is to be surrendered and hungry for the Lord and to be with Him. And as that happens, His glory will come on your life, and people will flock to you, because you know Jesus. Do you guys get it?

You see, if you become a slave to what the world calls success, it’s a never-ending hamster wheel. It will wear you out. It will tire you. It will fatigue you. It will enslave you. But you can come to the point where everything truly belongs to the Lord. Even if things aren’t working out the way that you thought, even if you thought God would have moved in your life differently, even when hardships come — because your heart is fully surrendered to Him, and because everything belongs to Him — your assignment, your calling, His plans, your job, your career, your family — because all of it is His, it doesn’t matter what happens. If people betray me, I have Jesus. If people speak against me, I have Jesus. If people love me, I have Jesus. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is: do you have the Lord?

First love

And so we are called to be a people of His presence, to be a people who spend time with Him, who come in and receive from Him. He is the win. He is success. And He is true life. I believe that there are many of you here that have a call of God on your life. In fact, all of you have a call. If you’ve never heard that before, now you have. God has a plan for your life. And for some of you, it might be a ministry assignment. There might be things that the Lord has called you to do — to lead churches, to lead movements, to lead people in worship, to go on the mission field, whatever it is.

But your success is not based on how many people come to the Lord. Your success is not how many people are in attendance. The only thing that defines success in your call is: are you in love with Jesus? The only thing that you actually need to give the most attention to is first love. Do you love Him with all of your heart?

That was something that the Lord had spoken to me not too long ago. I’ve served the Lord most of my life. I’ve walked with the Lord all my life. And I remember I was just in my room praying, and the Lord said, “Do you love Me?” I said, “Of course I love You, Jesus. I love You. We’re best friends.” And He said, “No. Do you love Me?” I was like, “Yeah, Lord, I love You.” And then He asked again, “Do you love Me?” It was like that Peter moment, you know? But it was a reminder of what does it actually mean, and what does it actually look like, to love the Lord — to actually be in love with Jesus. What does that look like for you?

You see, when you’re in love with someone, you’ll do whatever it takes to be with them. When you’re in love with someone, you’ll do whatever it takes to please them, to make them happy, right? To go out of your way, to cancel things in your schedule. What does first love look like? And if you can stay there, if you can stay in first love, let me tell you, you won’t have big enough nets to catch all the fish that are coming in.

So what is your job? Find the love of Jesus and love Him in return. What’s God’s plan for your life? First and foremost, find the love of Jesus. You have to know that He loves you, and love Him in return. If you can do that, Jesus says all these things will be added to you. You don’t need to worry about what’s next. You don’t need to worry about your family. You don’t need to worry about how to provide. You don’t need to worry about those things, because when we fall in love with Jesus, all these things will be added.

I’m going to cruise through some of these. Verse 11 says, “By faith Sarah also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead” — poor Abraham, “as good as dead,” talking about his ability to procreate. That’s so sad — “therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude — innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”

I have good news for you: this world is not your home. We’re just passing through. Every problem, every struggle, all of this is temporary, and there is a heavenly place that the Lord has prepared for you because of Jesus. Whoever would receive Him as the Lord of their life — that is your reality. That is your home. And faith is: no matter what happens in this world, no matter what I’m seeing around me, my true reality is in the heavenlies with the Lord Jesus Himself. That is your home. That is the plan and the place that He has prepared for you because of Jesus.

And we’re going to see this in chapter 12. By the way, I have waited this whole study to get to chapter 12. I cannot wait for chapter 12. Because that’s the reality: Jesus, fully God, took on flesh, came to this earth, lived a perfect life, died on a cross for your sins, was raised to life on the third day, and after forty days of walking with the people, teaching them and instructing them, giving them the final instructions — after forty days, Jesus, this man who was fully God, ascended into heaven and is now seated at the right hand of the Father. That is the reality.

And here’s the other reality: Jesus is coming back. Scripture says that when Jesus ascended into heaven, they would say, “We are in the last days.” Well, how many of you know that was two thousand years ago? And we are now, today, closer to Jesus’ return than ever before. If they were in the last days, then we are really in the last days now. Jesus will come again, and just like He ascended into heaven, Scripture says He will descend back to the earth upon Jerusalem, where He will rule and reign. And He has called you to Himself. He has called you into that. Amen. Ah, I can’t wait to talk about that more.

Verse 17 says, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son.” Verse 20: “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau.” Verse 21: “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of his sons.” Verse 22: “By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.” Surely the Lord will bring you to the land of promise.

Verse 23: “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was beautiful; and they were not afraid of the king’s commands. By faith, when he became of age, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” He was royalty. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, “choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.”

Look at verse 26: “esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches.” I thought Moses came before Jesus? No — Moses knew Jesus. And he chose the reproach of Christ crucified above the greatest riches in Egypt. By faith — say “by faith.” “By faith they passed through the Red Sea. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down. By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.”

Verse 32: “And what more should I say?” He said, I could keep going on and on and on. Some of you are thinking, “He can keep going on and on and on.” Yeah. He says, “What more should I say? Because time would fail me to tell you of Gideon and Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets.” Notice verse 33: “who through faith” — through faith. What does that mean? Faith is a substance. It was people who sought the presence of God and prioritized that above all the other things. It says, “who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.” By faith.

Chase Jesus

I want to just encourage you — and maybe you’ve not done this before — but I would encourage you to make this a regular practice. Can we stand together? We’re going to close with some worship. But I would like for us, if we can, to just close our eyes and just lift our hands to heaven. That’s where Jesus is.

And Holy Spirit, we invite You in this place right now. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for what You are speaking to us, Lord. And we ask, Lord Jesus, that as we come to You and as we draw near to You — Scripture says that You will draw near to us. So Lord, we choose You above all else. Lord, we choose first love. Lord, we choose to spend time with You, to be people who come into our room, who close the door, and just begin to worship You and just give thanks. And Lord, if we don’t know how, we ask that You would teach us how by Your Spirit. Teach us how to worship You, Lord Jesus. Teach us how to be people who give You thanks, who declare who You are. And Lord, I thank You that as we do, You come. You lift our heads.

With your hands raised, I just want to declare this over you and just encourage you: faith is not about striving. It’s about seeing. It’s about being more aware of His presence than the problems. It’s about being more confident in His reality than the results that we want. And as we just read, we see these heroes of faith who weren’t just chasing miracles. They were chasing God Himself. They believed in what they couldn’t see because they knew that the one who had promised is faithful. Their faith wasn’t proven by breakthrough. It was anchored in His presence.

And so I want us to just shift our focus today, with our hands lifted up. Don’t chase the outcome; chase Jesus. Don’t go to prayer as a task; go to Him as your portion. Because when He shows up, faith is there. When He speaks, the unseen becomes more real than what’s in front of you.

And so Lord, we just give You the glory. Lord, we want to be a people of Your presence, because You are the win, Lord Jesus. You are everything. You are our confidence. You are our reward. And when we have You, we have everything we need. And so, Jesus, we thank You. Holy Spirit, lift our hearts to the throne of Jesus. Lord, let this be a heavenly season — a season where heaven is more real to us than earth itself. Lord, that we would have eyes that see You so clearly. Lord, let this be a season that is marked by Your presence for every person that is here.

Lord, we pray for a fresh filling of Your Spirit, a fresh baptism of Your Spirit. Lord, that You would fill us to overflowing. Lord, that we would be so moved by You and so in love with You that we would arrange everything else around You, because You are first. Lord, that we would truly know what it means to abide, that we would truly know what it means to spend time in Your presence. Lord, teach us how to worship You. Lord, teach us how to pray. You are the one who shows us, who teaches us, who leads us. And so, Lord, we ask for more. We fix our eyes on You, Lord. You are the one thing that is needed, the one thing.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.