God's preparation of the speaker is both long-term and immediate. There is a sense in which every God-guided, God-anointed message has been a lifetime in preparation. Your heart-preparation builds upon your entire spiritual life and walk with God since your conversion. (Google image, How to study the Bible)
Dry sermons grow out of starved souls. Lifeless messages come from empty hearts. Jesus said that it is "out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matt. 12:34). A full heart always has more to say than can possibly be said; there is always a remainder left over, like the twelve basketfuls when Jesus fed the five thousand.
God must make you before you can make your sermon. An effective message comes only from an effective person. You must live what you preach. Your sermon will be the exposition of your soul. A great message comes only from a great heart. The sermon is your heart up to that date.
When your heart is flooded with God, floods of living water will stream from your soul. If your heart is a spiritual desert, your ministry will be dry and barren. Only a God-saturated soul has a God-saturated message. You can share no more life than you have received. Your sermon reveals your innermost being or else it is hypocrisy.
To the extent that heaven touches your soul, to that extent will your hearers feel heaven in their souls. Only a prophet can have a prophetic ministry, and prophets must get their vision and message from God.
A person without a burning message is a tragedy. The people need to see God's Spirit in your life, to feel God's touch in your ministry.
He said through Jeremiah,
"I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds" (Jer. 23:21-22).
God condemns those who speak their own ideas, thoughts, and dreams instead of His message:
"Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain? declares the LORD, Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?
Therefore, declares the LORD, I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. Yes, declares the LORD, I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, 'the LORD declares' . . . They do not benefit these people in the least, declares the LORD" (Jer. 23:28-32).
Each time you as the leader stand before your people you stand as the representative of God. You may not be called a prophet, but your must fulfill a prophet's role for your people. Each time you speak you are responsible to present the message God wants His people to have at that hour.
There is no possible way you can do this except as you live constantly in the presence of God. You must be a person of God even more than a person of the people.
John Wesley asked his ministers, "Have you any days of fasting and prayer? Storm the throne of grace and persevere therein, and mercy will come down." The only way to put God in your sermon is by prayer. How long your sermon has an impact on your people is usually in direct proportion to how much you have prayed.
Preparation of your heart must precede the preparation of your message, must continue during its preparation, and must continue until your message is delivered.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ablaze for God
#73 Your Prayer Must Saturate Message Preparation
by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
(pp. 223- 225) ZondervanPublishingHouse
Father, as teaching Your Word or giving Your message to congregations is a joint work between You and the speakers, help our leaders understand that Your part is as important as theirs.
Your involvement in the preparation of the speaker is both long-term and immediate.
There is a sense in which every guided and anointed message has been a lifetime preparation. The speakers' heart-preparation builds upon their entire spiritual life and walk with You since their conversion.
God-saturated souls have Your anointed-saturation messages. Our leaders can share no more life than they have received. Their sermons reveal their innermost being or else it is hypocrisy.
Their sermons will be the exposition of their souls. Great messages come only from great hearts. Their sermons are their hearts up to that date.
Oh, Father, help our leaders be authentic and prayerful people who seek You by the preparation of their hearts preceding, during the preparation, and then continuing until their messages are delivered.
Help us realize that covering them in prayer is the greatest thing that we can do to help them be available to You for inspiration for their preparation of each message You want us to have.
I pray this in the name of Jesus, and for His glory. Amen.
Today's Bible verses-
2 Tim. 2:15 (KJV) " Study to shew thyself approved
unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth."
Phil. 2:13 (KJV) "For it is God which worketh in you
both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
Romans 8:26 (MSG) "So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our
aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know
what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we
ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication
and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and grownings too deep for utterance."
Today's quote-2 Tim. 2:15 (KJV) " Study to shew thyself approved
unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth."
Phil. 2:13 (KJV) "For it is God which worketh in you
both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
Romans 8:26 (MSG) "So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our
aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know
what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we
ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication
and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and grownings too deep for utterance."
~ David H. Roper- "Nothing this world has to offer us—even very good things—fully satisfies us. There is a measure of enjoyment in them, but our happiness soon fades away (1 John 2:17). Indeed, 'God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from Himself.'
C. S. Lewis concluded. 'There is no such thing.' "
"There is a longing in every heart that only Jesus can satisfy."
(Taken from Our Daily Bread®, © 7/18/2018 by Our Daily Bread Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. www.odb.org)
~ Charles Spurgeon- "We should not tolerate for a minute the ghastly and grievous thought that God will not answer prayer. His nature, as manifested in Christ Jesus, demands the answer. He has revealed Himself in the Gospel as a God of love, "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). How can He refuse to help those of His creatures who humbly in His own appointed way seek His face and favor?" (Taken from p. 273 of Spurgeon on PRAYER & SPIRITUAL WARFARE).
Today's popular post-
Do Pastors Pray Enough?
C. Peter Wagner continues sharing from PRAYER SHIELD, saying:"In recent years, I have been spending a good bit of time in teaching pastors on the subject of prayer.
Whenever I bring up the subject, they frankly admit to me and to each other that they know their prayer lives are not all they should be."
Upcoming posts-
#74 Prepared Hearts Prepare Fruitful Messages
26th- Thursday's post by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
Sky Watcher
28th- Saturday's post by Lee Forbes
#75 Your Responsibility to Intercede for Your People
31- Tuesday's post by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
#76 Suggestions for Your Prayer Role
8/2- Thursday's post by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
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