 If you want to get serious about your walk with God, you need to eliminate from your life spiritual laziness. Spiritual laziness keeps you from prayer, it keeps you from the word, stunts your growth, it wastes your gifts and your time. So I want to give you three habits that will help to make you consistent in prayer and the word. Every believer should have a life of devotion. Every believer should be consistent in both prayer and the word. And I'm talking about daily prayer and daily reading of scripture. And when I talk about prayer, I'm not just talking about tossing up a thought to the Lord, although that is valid. But rather I'm talking about developing a lifestyle of prayer where you're spending good amounts of time in prayer, communing with the Lord where it's just you and him and you can focus on what he has to say to you. I'm talking about a devotion to the word that isn't just the reading of the scripture of the day or a tweetable quote, but a devotion to the word where you go into great depth, where you understand what's being written. You understand what the Holy Spirit is communicating through the scripture. I'm talking about your roots going deeper in the spirit. I'm talking about going to higher places in your walk with God. And I believe that if we're going to be set up to do this, and not only should we be doing the practical, but we should also be doing the spiritual, these two together are what make the complete walk with Christ. Now, when I say the practical, I don't mean the carnal. You see, many don't realize that there are practical measures that should be taken with your spiritual life. And by practical, I mean daily actions that you choose. It's not just about saying a prayer or thinking godly thoughts or operating in the spiritual gifts, but what also matters and what probably matters more is your character. How much like Christ are you? You can have a prophetic gift, but if you don't have discipline, what good is that prophetic gift and how can it properly function in one who lacks the character to sustain that gift? So the spiritual and the practical must come together. And again, let me say this one more time so we're clear. When I say practical, I am also talking about spiritual dynamics but applied to your everyday life. So let's get right into this. Number one, the first key, the first habit that you must establish in your life if you want to deepen your walk with the Lord is discipline. Now again, I talked about the fact that we must do the practical. You see, everyone wants to prophesy. Everyone wants to lay hands on the sick. Everyone wants to cast out devils. Everyone wants to preach the gospel. Everyone wants to see miracles. And that's wonderful. You should desire to see those things. You should operate in those things. I teach on those things. Those are important expressions of Christ's ministry. We need the supernatural, but we also need daily living. We also need spiritual maturity. And when you mature in the spirit, you recognize that sometimes the value that we place on some of these more spiritual seeming things is not necessarily as important as the value that we should place on the character dynamics, on the daily disciplines, your daily routine, your walk with God, how you talk, how you think, what your daily habits look like, how you live for Christ in the mundane, everyday life that you walk through. And this first key discipline is often missed on believers. I'm not saying most believers miss this, but I am saying many believers miss this. I don't have the statistics on that exactly. But let's look here at Matthew chapter 26, and I'm going to read verses 40 through 44. Here's what the Bible says. Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, couldn't you watch with me for even one hour? Keep watch and pray so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak. Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed. Father, if this cup cannot be taken away, or father, if this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done. Verse 43, when he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, where they couldn't keep their eyes open. So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again. Now here we see Jesus wrestling in the garden, and he's praying and he's asking the Father, Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. But nevertheless, not my will, your will be done. So he's surrendering to the plan of crucifixion. All the while, the disciples are off on the side asleep. And he tells them this key phrase. He says, keep watch and pray so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak. In other words, who you truly are in Christ, your spirit, the part of you that's connected with God. That is willing to do good. There is a part of all of us that desires to draw closer to God. You desire to pray. You desire to read the Word. You desire to go deeper in your walk with Christ. You desire to sharpen your spiritual gifts. You desire to step into the call that God has placed on your life. You desire to serve others, to evangelize the lost, to expand the kingdom of God, to spread the gospel message around the world. Those are spiritual desires that God has placed in you. Your spirit is willing. There's a part of you that's drawn to prayer. That's why you're watching this stream right at this very moment. Because the part of you that is spiritual is drawn to spiritual things. That desire to do that which is spiritual is born of the Holy Spirit within you. And those desires are in part proof that the Holy Spirit does indeed dwell in you. You have the Holy Spirit in you. Otherwise, who is there desiring to do spiritual things? Here's the problem. The spirit is willing. In other words, there's a desire in you to do that which is of God, to become that which God desires, to have faith, to live clean, to worship God, to uplift holy hands. You have these desires. These are good desires. But the flesh is weak. In other words, deep within, you have a desire to do as God wills. Deep within, you have a desire to please the Lord. But the flesh, the outer shells of you, not just the physical body, but also the sin nature. Those outer shells that you're struggling against, your mind, your emotions, sometimes your physical tiredness and exhaustion, these things make it difficult sometimes to do that which you desire. So then internally, you're screaming, I want to pray. Internally, you're saying, why can't I read the word? Internally, you desire to open the Scripture and to dive into the depths of the knowledge of God, to dive into the revelation that the Holy Spirit has laid before you. That's the desire in you. And though you desire after spiritual things, sometimes it's difficult to overcome a lazy flesh. The flesh is weak. Your spirit desires, get up and pray, get up and pray. The flesh, just a few more minutes of sleep. The spirit desires the word, Scripture. The flesh desires entertainment and distraction. So then while you're listening to a message like this, and your spirit is being strengthened, your flesh is looking after something else, something a little more entertaining, something a little more fast-paced, something that can strengthen the outer man, something that can benefit the flesh. And so we are left to make the decision, do we go after what the spirit desires, or do we allow the flesh to be weak? Do we allow the flesh to convince us to not do that which the spirit desires? You see, the Holy Spirit will give you the desire, but it's up to you to make the decision. The desire to do that which is spiritual is placed in you by the Holy Spirit. But the decision to act on that desire is entirely on you. He'll give you the desire. He'll give you spiritual hunger. It's up to you to eat spiritually. It's up to you to receive that daily bread. It's up to you to put on the armor of God. Of course, by the grace of God, in other words, he gives you the strength to do it, but you must make the decision to do it. And it's this part that as I said, many believers miss. Many believers think that the Holy Spirit is going to come upon them, and suddenly they won't be tired. Suddenly they won't have desires for worldly things. That comes with time. Yes, you begin to lose desires for worldly things the more you respond to the Spirit. However, we cannot wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon us and to force us to do the will of God. And that's what I think we imagine will happen. This is why many believers will cry out for deliverance when what they need is discipline. People ask me all the time, but David, pray for me that I would stop doing X, Y, and Z. Pray for me that I would start making the right decisions in this area. Pray for me that I wouldn't keep sinning in this way. And in doing this, they throw off the responsibility from themselves and they try to place it on some demon or on some minister who is responsible for now, then becoming free. But you see, the Spirit is willing. The flesh is what's weak. Your greatest enemy isn't the devil. He's an enemy. You should watch for him. You should be aware of his tactics. Your greatest enemy isn't some demonic spirit. You have authority over demonic powers. Yes, demonic powers attack Christians. Yes, they'll try to deceive you, to torment you, to confuse you, and so forth and even tempt you. But you can overcome demonic power by exercising divine authority, which is yours by birthright, spiritual birthright. You are in Christ and Christ is in authority and therefore when you rebuke a demonic power, it says if Christ himself is rebuke that demonic power. And it must obey and instantly so. So your greatest enemy is not the devil, he is an enemy about which you should be aware. Your greatest enemy is not some demonic power, though you should fight against demonic power by the Spirit using the armor of God. Your greatest enemy is not flesh and blood, other people who may come against you or persecute you or doubt you or mock you. Your greatest enemy, the greatest force working against your spiritual growth is you, at least the part of you that is not completely redeemed yet. That flesh, that old nature, that old man who is weak, desire to pray, desire to fast, desire to read the Word, desire to go to church, desire to fellowship, desire to worship, desire to evangelize. Oh, but that flesh, weak. And so you'll find yourself in this odd place where you want to do something for God. You want to do that which will draw you closer to him. You want to do that which will cause you to be more aware of him. Yet you seem to lack that strength. And because of that, you then begin to pile guilt upon yourself because you're not responding in the way that you know you should and you get stuck in this middle place, desiring to do that which is godly, yet not acting upon that desire and therefore living under the condemnation of not doing what you know you should do. And in that condemnation, you find it even more difficult to break free from that type of mindset that keeps you in spiritual laziness. This applies not only to prayer but also to the reading of the Word. Anything really that strengthens us spiritually is desired by the Holy Spirit within us. And that flesh, that old nature begins to fight. So how do you overcome this? Well, that's the key I'm giving you, the habit of the spirit filled of discipline. Again, we think often of the supernatural or what we would call the spiritual aspects of the Christian life. Prophecy, spiritual gifts, visions, dreams, encounters with God, angelic visitations, miracles, these are all wonderful. But really what's going to set you up for greater depth, what's going to give you true longevity is the truly spiritual act of discipline. Now I call this a practical habit, but really it's a spiritual habit. I just use the term practical because that's how people identify with it and how they best understand what I'm describing. But this step is really as simple as deciding to do that which you know you should do. And so people don't like the answer I'm about to give. People don't like the truth of the fact that if you want to implement spiritual discipline then you have to begin to decide to do things that you know you should do. There is no secret formula. There is no shortcut. There is no quick fix. I cannot lay hands on you and impart discipline. I cannot lay hands on you and impart the right decisions. This is why I'm perplexed by believers who will come to me and say, Brother David, pray for me. And I say, what do you want me to pray for? They say, I'm just not obeying God, please pray for me. And I often tell them gracefully so. That's not something I can pray. I can pray maybe that the Holy Spirit will strengthen the desire. I can pray maybe that the Holy Spirit will help to remove distractions. I can pray maybe that the Holy Spirit will remind you of that which you ought to do but still ultimately you are going to have to respond to what the Holy Spirit is speaking. Now salvation is free. We know this. Salvation comes when we believe. But if you want to grow spiritually, then you must cooperate with the Holy Spirit through daily surrender. Die a thousand deaths a day spiritually speaking. Die a thousand deaths a day. Say no to the flesh. And you will find that at first when you seek to implement this type of living, that at first the flesh will be very successful in fighting you. At first it will be very difficult for you to start praying. At first it will be very difficult for you to open the Scripture and sit there for more than 10 minutes where you pour over what you probably have difficulty understanding anyway. I know I had difficulty understanding most of what I read in the Scripture when I first began to read the Bible. But something powerful begins to happen as you are persistent to do that which you know you ought to do. The Scripture tells us to not grow weary in well-doing or in due season we in fact reap the harvest. When the time is right, the harvest comes. That's Galatians 6-9. Now context considered that Scripture tells us of the principle of persistence. That if I just continue to pray, even if I'm fighting my flesh and it's kicking and screaming, even if I go to read the Word and I may have trouble understanding most of what I read that first time around. That if I just stick with it, if I just continue to daily receive of the Word, I continue to daily seek the face of Jesus. I continue to respond to the desire that the Spirit placed in me what begins to happen over time. Maybe not in the first hour. Maybe not in the first hour. Maybe not in the first day. Maybe not even in the first weeks and months. My friend, what eventually does begin to happen is that the flesh begins to lose strength and the Spirit begins to dominate your life. Maybe it was difficult at first to pray on day one, but by day 30 it'll be that much easier. By the third month it will be a flow and after a year of implementing this you'll find that there's very little resistance from the flesh. Why? Because you have to subject the flesh before you can resist it. See, many believers are living their lives with a strong flesh, with a strong carnal nature, and they allow the flesh to dominate their lives. Why? How I should say, they do so by giving into every craving, giving into every desire, by ignoring the spiritual disciplines, by neglecting the word and neglecting prayer. And so they live with the flesh strong and strengthened and the flesh is a giant in their life. And so they try to go up against this giant every day not realizing that they've been feeding this giant. And so what you have to do first is subject the flesh and then once it has been weakened you keep it weak through daily discipline. Choose the word over Instagram. Check your phones by the way. Go into your settings and see your screen time. Don't turn it off, leave that feature on. Sometimes we turn it off because we don't want to think about it. We don't want to acknowledge how long we're really spending on our phones. Go look at your screen time. Don't tell me you don't have time for prayer and the word when you have hours logged on Instagram, on TikTok, on YouTube, on Facebook. Now it's okay to receive the word of God. It's okay to do these things. It's okay to listen to podcasts. It's okay to watch videos. I'm not saying that those things are evil unto themselves. What I am saying is that we waste a lot of time on our devices and we gain nothing from it. If I asked you what you watched yesterday or even last week you couldn't tell me. It's vanity, it's emptiness, nothing in it. Yet we pursue it because we're addicted to the dopamine fix that we receive from scrolling endlessly and then we expect that the flesh is just going to be weak all of a sudden. No way. In order to begin, I'm going to tell you something right now and it's going to sound super obvious. It may not even sound spiritual, but it's the truth and some might not like this, but it's the truth. I'm going to tell you this, okay? In order to begin, you have to choose to begin. In order to start praying daily, you have to daily choose to pray. In order to read the scripture daily and develop a lifestyle of intaking the word, you have to get into the word and choose to do so daily. It is the daily decision that ultimately becomes the life of discipline. It is the daily decision that ultimately becomes the life of discipline. Discipline is a mark of the spirit field. Don't let anybody tell you that discipline is religious. Don't let anybody tell you that discipline is just tradition or man-made. Discipline is a mark of the spirit field. Because before you can have dominion over demons and this world you must learn to have dominion over yourself Before you can have dominion over demons and this world you must learn to have dominion over yourself Fight the flesh resist the flesh give it no provision give it no opportunity Don't give it strength stop feeding your flesh and starving your spirit Stop choosing to feed the flesh and then saying I don't know why I'm stuck in this place now I know that many of us do this, but it's time. We stop it's time. We get serious about the things of God How many years have gone by where you're telling yourself at some point? I need to get serious and the problem is you're waiting for the ideal situation to present itself before you finally Decide to begin doing what God told you to do that ideal situation is not coming You will always have to sacrifice something you will always run into things that seem inconvenient on your spiritual journey But you have to choose today right now right here and then as you begin to take that journey part of discipline is Recognizing that you're not going to reach perfection on the first day And this is also why many believers quit the disciplines of the spirit because they are frustrated with themselves so much so That they haven't developed Instantly they haven't developed as quickly as they want to develop so they slip into Condemnation and shame and then just throw up their hands and give up and say well, I'll try next time Don't look for perfection just progress every day minor changes If you don't pray and read the Bible start with praying five minutes and start with reading one chapter I know that some won't like that. I'm telling people that they'll say brother David That's so shallow or brother David. They need to go deeper than that or brother David They should be praying hours. Okay, but I want to help you start where you are Start with five minutes of prayer day set your timer use that phone set your timer For five minutes and just pray Then tell yourself. I'm gonna read one chapter of the Bible today That's not much. Well when it comes to reading scripture, I should say it's not about how much you read But how much how about how much you receive when you read there are some days where I'll spend maybe 45 minutes on three verses Just pouring over them meditating on them researching them considering them comparing them to other verses So that happens sometimes so by no means do we measure our spiritual devotion by how many verses we read in a day But there is something to be said of at least committing to some time in the word of course And so you read even just a little bit even just a little bit Implement that discipline Start with five minutes prayer a day five minutes in the word or chapter a day start there Keep that discipline and then increase. So number one is discipline number two is Intentionality or awareness of his presence acts chapter 17 verse 27 says His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps fill their way toward him and find him Though he is not far from any one of us Intentionality is to live in the awareness of his presence Many believers are of the impression that God is a million miles away and That if they act well or they behave well That every time they commit a good act every time they do something that can be considered good behavior Every time they choose a spiritual action they imagine that they get just a little closer to God When they pray they get closer when they read the word they get closer I know this may sound counter to what I just told you but I'm gonna clarify this in a moment Or they think that if they go to church they get a little closer or if they fast they get a little closer My friend, that's not what's happening And if you think that's what's happening then you need some help understanding your connection with the Lord We don't do these things to connect with God We do these things from connection with God and the reason that strengthens our spirit is precisely because we become more aware of him When we do these things, so it's not a performance-based relationship It's not as though if I do three good actions in one day And only one bad one that i'm closer to God now by net positivity. It doesn't work like that. It's not Mathematic. It's not systematic. You cannot systemize that which is spiritual. That is the basis of religion and religion kills You cannot systemize spirituality. That is legalism rather When we approach the Lord We must remember That he already lives within us That we are already one with him That connection cannot be undone That which is born of the spirit is spirit You have the holy spirit within you. You can't get any closer to God than having him live within you And having him dwell within your very being what know ye not that your body is the temple of the holy ghost You're not your own you've been purchased with the price He dwells in you and so one of the habits that have to begin to form in your life is intentionality That is to be aware of his nearness the scripture very clearly says His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him Though he is not far from any one of us. I want you to do something. It may seem strange. Take your hand out And I want you to put it in front of your face just just like this just right here Just like that And I want you to look at your hand I want you to look at how close your hand is to your face And I want you to realize that God's presence is closer to you Than your hand is to your face Like he's right here in front of you. He's not off a million miles away He doesn't abide at some great distance His presence and light permeates your very being You are a carrier of the glory a host with the presence of the Holy Spirit You are a habitation for God. He dwells in you think about that And so If we are to become more consistent in prayer and the word We absolutely must become aware of the presence of God that dwells with us And in order to do that you have to slow the pace of your life Everything in our culture today Everything that this world has to offer that's hyperbole, of course, but for the most part what the world has to offer Bass pace like this instant convenient on your terms instant gratification Anything that we desire We can order it. I mean Everything online is basically the everything store Anything you want you can have it And you can have it in a variety of different ways Convenience Speed Bass paced. We're so used to that Think about the trajectory of social media and the format of social media Think about the fact that they are forming all the major social media platforms are now forming Are now forming their algorithms and the user experience around a faster pace Who has time for a three-minute video anymore? Who has time for a 10-minute video? My goodness, who has time for a live stream that could go more than an hour sometime? And what's beginning to happen Is we are being conditioned to expect immediate gratification And because of that we neglect prayer Because prayer isn't going to abide by those same terms. You are not the lord You are not the king. You are the servant. We are the servants his children He is the father. He is the lord. He is the ruler And yet we snap our fingers at god and say god, why didn't I get an encounter with you? We get angry with them. Well so-and-so told the story And they encountered you in this way Or my brother or my sister or my pastor or my friend they seem to have encounters with you all the time Why won't you give that to me and and and we we we huff and we puff and we become angry and we're so entitled that We expect god to respond instantly to everything we request And then we fall into self pity Saying things like oh god never listens to me Oh god never comes through for me Who gave you that breath with which you are complaining? Was it not god? Don't you trust his wisdom? Isn't he sovereign overall? Don't you believe he has a plan? Do you not believe that he has good intentions for you? Do you not believe that he's working to develop your character even when you can't see it? Do you not believe the promise he who began a good work and you is faithful to complete it? Do you not believe that he is the potter? We are the clay and that he is forming and fashioning you with the circumstances of life No But that's demonstrated In the fact that we want everything They that wait upon the lord shall renew their strength not those who rush the lord We don't wait upon the lord anymore. We rush him We don't like to wait I want the encounter now and I want it on my terms and I want to feel this and I want to experience that And if you don't do that then i'm not going to believe i'm free And if you don't do that then i'm not going to believe your word that tells me i'm victorious And if you don't do that then i'm not going to believe the scripture that tells me that you are not far from any one of us We lack that awareness of what he's doing We lack that awareness of his presence in our lives and because of this we cease in the area of intentionality And when you're intentional You become more consistent and prayer on the word, but that's a principle we lack Why because of the pace of life? Because everything revolves around our convenience because everything revolves around our timing You know the world has changed god has not culture has changed god has not Everything around you may be speeding up, but god still works on his own time Do we really expect that we should receive of god in the same way that we consume all other things? Do we really expect that god should respond to us the way that some company that's trying to earn and keep our business responds to us? I mean some of you if you were leaving god a yelp review you'd give him three and a half stars because he took too long Service was great, but it just took too long Or it would have been wonderful, but i had to go I had things to do You know you think of these old revivals from times past and the church Would spend hours in church morning to night We go to work come home grab a quick dinner rush off to a revival. They'd spend hours in church No one complained about the time Why because they were so hungry for the things of god people will travel long distances just to experience a move of god Some of us won't even turn around and open the bible I'm not saying this to condemn you i'm saying this to challenge you Because where there is correction there is hope For a new direction where there is correction. There is hope of transformation God would not be bringing correction to you right now if it weren't possible that you change But the very fact that it is possible that you change is why he's bringing correction in the first place We must learn to slow down the pace of mind Slow down the pace of life slow down the pace of our expectations And we must learn to become aware of god in every moment Not just in a church service Not just when we go to the prayer room though You should pray and though you should as matthew 6 6 says sometimes lock yourself away and pray But rather we must learn to also Be aware Of the abiding nearness of god Listen to me. He's in the room with you right now. And if you'll just slow down I know you're on the internet right now And there are a thousand things you could click on right at this very moment I know there are many different forms of entertainment that are pooling for your attention in this very moment But if you with a heart filled with faith We'll just allow yourself to slow Down and become aware of his abiding presence. You would know That he's in the room with you He's there with you now And not only is he there with you right now He's closer than you could ever possibly know He dwells within you You are one with the holy spirit That is the abiding presence of god his love His peace His joy, it's yours for the taking If only you would slow down Slow down. He's looking at you Right now. He's in the room with you Right now He's listening to you Right now He's listening to you Right now the abiding presence of almighty god stop waiting Listen to me stop waiting For an emotional experience To confirm what you should already know by the scripture and by the spirit of god That he is near You want to be consistent in prayer and the word? You need intentionality Number one is discipline choose to make the choice. There's no easy way around it Start small make small choices Not perfection, but progress number two Intentionality be aware of his abiding presence And you become aware of his abiding presence by slowing down the pace of your thinking Of your expectations and your lifestyle slow down It's not a race. Well, Paul the apostle did liken it unto a race, but it's not about the speed It's about the consistency and the goal of finishing strong Number three and again, this may not seem what we would consider spiritual This is why I keep making this point Because often I think we confuse supernatural for spiritual Supernatural is how we describe the miraculous encounters that we might have on this side of eternity Because we are experiencing something We are experiencing something outside of our natural realm supernatural It's heaven and earth colliding miracles prophecy spiritual gifts and so forth But these practical tools i'm giving you are the basics of true spirituality These practical traits in you are the basics of spiritual character and development They may not be as exciting as some of the other things we could talk about But mature believers are just as excited about one truth as the other No matter how it may appear on this side of eternity True believers understand that there are foundations that have to be laid and so what i'm about to give you May seem Just far too practical It may not sound spiritual at all, but it is number three organization now There's discipline intentionality and organization There's a biblical principle As you study the scripture you'll see it Called the law of stewardship And the law of stewardship is simple It is to acknowledge That god owns it all And that i'm just a temporary caretaker of what ultimately belongs to god This body he gave you Ultimately belongs to him. You're just a caretaker The breath in your lungs. You're just a caretaker a steward The resources he's given you this life. He's given you you're borrowing it. It's his you are steward And the law of stewardship states That if i do well With what god has given to me now God will increase my responsibilities and rewards God will increase my responsibilities and my rewards if i do well With what he's given me now. That is the law of stewardship And so the bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 40 But be sure that everything is done properly and in order everything that you do ought to be done decently and in order Everything that you do should be done as a tribute unto the glory of god. Here's my question to you Does the way you manage your time glorify god When you look back on your life and you stand before almighty god And you look into those eyes of fire And he's standing before you you're before him And you present your life the totality of all that you are The totality of all that you've done The totality of all that you haven't done when you present that to him Is it an offering that glorifies him? Many times when I lay my head on my pillow at night I turn to the lord in the spirit and I say lord I want you to take this day as an offering I don't say that every night Not every night do I say to the lord lord take today as an offering. Do you know why? Because not every night do I think that the day was worthy of being presented Now my goal is that I would give him more days that can count as an offering What are we offering him at the end of the day? Can you turn to the lord and say lord? This is an offering for you And does that offering glorify him? Does that offering bring him joy? Well Only you can answer that You have to learn to budget your time like you budget your money and some of us have to learn how to budget money But the way you organize your day is very spiritual You see you can have discipline But discipline without organization can become activity without productivity Some people aren't productive. They're just busy Nothing really ever gets done. Man, they're busy Arons and phone calls and texts and emails and responsibilities They're busy Maybe not productive You see you have to structure your day you have to actually look at your week pull out your calendar Write it on a piece of paper something write the vision down make it plain. That's biblical And you have to look at your day and say okay, how do I divide this day up? How do I be a good steward of my time? Many of us think that magic is just going to happen that the day is just going to fall into line That we can just wake up no plan no aim no goal no structure no planning written down And that it's just going to fall into line everything's just going to work And that somehow we're going to manage to find time for prayer on the word Well, my friend that's self deception of the worst kind Because the intentions are there eventually. I think I'll get it eventually. I think everything will fall into line Eventually, I think the day will come where I'm organized and disciplined and intentional But until you sit down and organize what god has given to you The time he's given to you until you sit down and organize it and say how do I structure my day In a way that glorifies god Productivity glorifies god excellence glorifies god Intentionality glorifies god discipline glorifies god Because the opposite waste the hours Are you sleeping away? You're calling see see many people think that that one of the greatest um Most destructive things that could come against their calling is sin and that's true But while many are fretting about sin, they're forgetting about laziness And they're not sinning. They're calling away. They're sleeping. They're calling away They're resting their purpose away Aimlessly wandering through every day They just expect things to fall in line without actually sitting down to implement The organization That is their responsibility to implement god is a god of order. There is nothing that the lord has ever done that was chaotic You've heard it said I don't want to get involved with organized religion or ministry should just be natural organic Why do we need all the system structure and organization to that I ask this question Can you name me one thing that god ever did that wasn't organized? What are you into chaotic religion? confused religion aimless religion undisciplined religion Because that which is unorganized is always ineffective. Let me say that again that which is unorganized Is always ineffective everything god does has a system has a structure has a purpose Your body is made up of various different systems The earth is an ecosystem that exists in a solar system There are macro systems and micro systems The church is god's system of the kingdom in the earth There is a system to knowing the word. There is a system to everything that god does Yet we act like systems and organization are of the flesh. No, my friend. It's just the opposite Laziness is of the flesh Aimlessness is of the flesh Lack of purpose lack of intention. That's of the flesh True spirituality is to be like your father True spirituality is to come into divine alignment and maturity To where you have those organized intentions God does everything with order And that which is unorganized is always ineffective discipline intentionality Organization now holy spirit Be their constant reminder be their constant reminder I want you to lift your hands and even write this in the comment section and say this and write it Help me holy spirit Don't be ashamed to pray that I'll say it a thousand times a day if I have to and sometimes I do need to say it A thousand times a day. Help me holy spirit a father. I pray That they would be sensitive to the voice of the holy spirit give them the grace Strengthen that desire That they might implement These habits in their lives Father, I thank you That your mercies are new every morning. Thank you for being so patient with us even when we don't deserve it I bless your people And I pray father That this would be a great season of transformation Let this be the time Then it finally sticks In jesus name we pray I want you to say it because you believe it say Amen, let me read a portion of scripture to you Go to first kings Chapter number 17 first king 17 turn there now. I'm gonna begin reading at verse number eight. Here's what the bible says Then the lord said to elisha Go and go and live in the village of xerapheth Near the city of sudone I have instructed a widow there to feed you. I want you to hear this. Listen to this So he went to xerapheth As he arrived at the gates of the village he saw a widow gathering sticks and he asked her Would you please bring me a little water and a cup? As she was going to get it. He called to her Bring me a bite of bread too So here we see very during a very difficult time The prophet is sent to a widow Who was struggling Who was really in a difficult place you can see it quite clearly here And he goes and some would say it was audacious of him, but he asks for a cup of water And while she's getting that cup of water he calls out Not just for the cup of water Bring me a bite of bread too But she said verse 12 But she said I swear by the lord your god That I don't have a single piece of bread in the house And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal and then my son and I will die. Those were her plants She was going to cook that meal And then her and her son would die But Eli just said to her don't be afraid go ahead and do just what you've said But make a little bread for me first Notice there the law of firstfruits put gods aside first Then use what's left to prepare a meal for yourself and your son. Sadly many believers reverse that They take care of themselves first and then god's house second For this is what the lord the god of israel says There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the lord sends the rain and the crops grow again So she did as elijah said And she and elijah and her family continued to eat for many days There was always enough flour and oil left in the containers just as the lord had promised to elijah now I've heard this presented one way and I used to present it that way too But I noticed something About what took place in this story What the prophet was telling this woman wasn't necessarily conditional You've heard it preached That first she was supposed to do what the prophet instructed and that if she didn't do that That there would be no flow of god's provision But you notice here that the prophet said don't be afraid go ahead and do just what you've said Make a little bread for me first then what's left to prepare a meal for you and your son For this is what the lord the god of israel says there will always be flour and oil left in your containers That was the promise that was the word unconditional. You cannot change god's mind You see it wasn't that the prophet was saying if you give this then god will provide Rather he was saying god will provide So you are free to give this you see we as new testament believers understand That god takes care of his children. I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging for bread We are the righteousness of god in christ jesus So god will provide for you Whether you give and this is going to be something i'm going to say that you probably won't hear very many people say Whether you give to this ministry or not it doesn't matter god's going to take care of your needs That's the fact of the matter god will always meet your needs That's what he does for his children If you watch this stream and you don't give a single thing God's still going to meet your needs God's still going to take care of you God's still going to bless you. You know why because he loves you Because you're his child and he's not going to neglect you But if you want to move From provision to overflow That's where you have to begin to step into faith god wants to do more than just meet the need He wants there to be overflow not so that you can consume it in your own lust not so that you can receive it just for yourself. No God wants you to be a good steward Of what he's given you And when you're a good steward of what he's given you he increases that responsibility Increase is not just the reward. It's also a responsibility And so many of us find ourselves like this woman in a difficult circumstance And we become afraid And we think things in the flesh like if I release this gift Then i'm gonna lack If I support that ministry, then I won't have what I need. That's a lie from the enemy God will provide whether you give or not But it's because god will provide that you can be free from fear And be released to give So I want to challenge you now To step out in faith. Stop listening to the voice of fear Stop listening to what the media is saying Stop listening to what your friends who like to share scary news articles are saying Stop listening to what the panicked people are saying and listen to the word He will take care of you And so I want to challenge you today To listen to the voice of the holy spirit To respond in obedience to what god is putting on your heart And I want you to go right now To david hernan's ministries dot com slash donate To give a single gift Or go to david hernan's ministries dot com slash partner to become a monthly ministry supporter Now those are two different ways of giving. I want you to consider one or both of them Many of you can give a one time gift of twenty five dollars Fifty dollars even a hundred dollars And you might be tempted to say well, it's not going to do much But think about if everybody thought that way Everybody thought that way the ministry would never grow the ministry would never have the resources it needs to expand and to continue the work But by you giving you're joining your support with thousands of believers around the world And all of you collectively are supporting live streams like this The content that we release the holy spirit school the events that we do around the world freely we received So freely we give and we take the biblical approach of asking for free will offerings That is the biblical way of doing it. It's the strategy of faith. We don't charge for anything We give it away for free and people like you who can hear the voice of the holy spirit Respond because you love the gospel because you love the lord because you love souls because you're blessed by this ministry And you want to see others blessed so go right now Give a one-time gift or a single gift at david hernan's ministries.com slash donate or become a monthly ministry supporter Now if you haven't done so already, I encourage you to sign up to become a monthly supporter That helps to support the ministry on a consistent basis And in fact, I can see The various different people who are giving from around the world when you give at david hernan's ministries.com Slash donate or david hernan's ministries.com slash partner. I can actually see the gifts coming in so brianna Thank you for your one-time gift. Eric. Thank you for your gift I see luni just became a monthly partner. Thank you to the patrick family to your very generous one-time gift Jody, thank you for your gift Eunice thank you for becoming a partner steve and tanaka And many other names carolin. Thank you for becoming a partner kiera. Thank you for becoming a partner trevor Thanks for becoming a partner lorana. Thanks for becoming a partner and you can give again at david hernan's ministries.com now one more thing on this If you're giving internationally And our form on david hernan's ministries.com does not work for you Then you can give through the social media platforms such as facebook or youtube But try the form first because it's the most efficient way to give to our ministry If you enjoyed this teaching make sure you leave a like also don't forget to subscribe to the channel And I encourage you to watch how do I encounter god in prayer in this teaching? I talked to you about how to know the depths of the glory of god and how to experience god's power through the spiritual act of prayer