Ron Dunn Podcast - Appropriating Faith

Episode Date: July 19, 2017

Ron Dunn preaches from Mark 11 on Appropriating Faith.

You are listening to the Ron Dunn Podcast. Ron Dunn is a well-known author and was one of the most in-demand preachers during the latter part of the 20th century. He led Bible studies all over the United States, Europe, and South Africa. For more information and resources from Ron Dunn, please visit rondunn.com. The Gospel of Mark, chapter 11. One of the most frustrating things in the Christian life, and one of the things that I think puzzles us the most,

is our inability at times to receive what God has promised us, to obtain the things that God has made freely available to us. And I want to deal this morning in this Bible study, as we continue this series on faith, on the subject of the appropriation of faith. How is it that we obtain the things that God has promised us, and how it is that we appropriate these things. And I'm going to read, beginning in verse 22, in Mark chapter 11, and I'll read through verse 24.

Mark chapter 11, verses 22 through 24. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever

he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them. Now, every promise of God, as a matter of fact, every truth as it relates to Christianity, is an absolute truth. It is an absolute promise. But at the same time, every promise, every truth must be appropriated. And I think that it will help us a great deal in our Christian living and in our understanding of the things of God and how God operates in our lives if we can understand this very simple truth. Every promise of God every truth of God is both absolute but at the same time must be appropriated

for instance let me illustrate what I mean when Jesus died on the cross the Bible says he died for all men John 3 16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son

that whosoever believeth on him so forth so forth he gave himself for all menten Son, that whosoever believeth on him, so forth, so forth. He gave himself for all men. We read a moment last night in 1 John chapter 2 where John says, and he is the propitiation, not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Now, if it is true that Jesus died for all men, that is an absolute truth.

That is an absolute sacrifice, an absolute death of Christ. He died for all men. He died for the world. John said, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin, not of the race, not of a nation, but the sin of the world. Now, does that mean that the whole world is saved? If Jesus died for all men, does that mean that all men are saved? No. While that truth is absolute, yet it must be appropriated. And so, John 3, 16 says that while God so loved the world, only those who believe are saved. And in John chapter 3, 16 says that while God so loved the world, only those who believe are saved.

And in John chapter 3, he says that God sent his Son not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He said, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. Why? Because he commits sins, drinks, murders, lies. No,

because he hath not believed on the name of the Son of God. I think it's intriguing for us to understand that a man doesn't go to hell, is not lost eternally because he commits certain sins. He doesn't go to hell for what he does. He goes to hell for what he does.

He goes to hell for what he fails to do. He that believeth not is condemned. Why? Because he hath not believed on the name of the Son of God. In the book of Revelation, when he talks about that great last judgment, he says the dead will be judged out of those things written in the books according to

their works. But he doesn't say that's what cast them into the lake of fire. And he says, and whosoever's name was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. It doesn't matter what's found in the book of works, as long as your name is in the book of life, you're all right. A man isn't cast into the lake of fire because of what's in the book of works. He's cast into the lake of fire because of what is not in the book of life. So you see, while that truth is absolute that Christ died for the world and God saw the world, yet that must be appropriated by each man. He must individually, personally, in response to the drawing of the Holy Spirit,

he must receive Jesus Christ and exercise that God-given faith. The same thing is true when it comes to this matter of victory over the devil. I read the Bible, and I find that the Bible tells me that when Jesus Christ died on the cross, he had an absolute victory over the devil. In Colossians chapter 2, it says he stripped him of all of his power. In Hebrews 2, it says that he, well, the King James says that he destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.

That word destroyed really means to make inoperative. One man translates it like this, he put him out of business. It's a word that could be translated unemployed. In other words, when Jesus Christ died, he destroyed, he put out of business, he made ineffective, inoperative the devil. Now, you cannot read the Bible

without coming to this conclusion that his victory over the devil is absolute. Well, I wish somebody would tell the devil he doesn't seem to know he's been defeated. Somebody said the devil's chained. Well, if he is, he's chained to me, or else he's got a mighty long chain. Some years ago, I had an evangelist friend who was invited to one of these very dignified northern churches. My evangelist friend was one of these windmill preachers, you know, waves his arms, and he was a hellfire brimstone. I mean, you know, he stomped, you know, and when he got through,

he was wringing wet with sweat and standing on about six inches of his pants leg. I mean, he just really got with it when he preached. And I suppose this pastor had had some second thoughts after inviting this evangelist. And so when the evangelist arrived on the scene, this pastor said, Now, Brother Gene, you'll not need to preach up here like you have to preach down south. He said, Well, why is that so? He said, Well, we don't have the devil in our churches up here like you've got him in your churches down there.

And Gene said, well, you may not have had him before, but you've got him now. He rode up with me in the car all the way. You see, the devil is a roaring lion going about seeking whom he may devour but I thought he had been overcome oh yes that victory was absolute but it must be appropriated and so James says

submit yourself to God resist the devil and he will flee from you he's not going to flee if you don't do any resisting that truth of God is absolute but it must be appropriated. And everything is like that in the Christian life. I have died with Christ. When Christ was crucified, I died with him. But I must appropriate that death daily in my life if it is to make any difference in my Christian experience. Now, the same thing is true with this passage that we're dealing with. In the matter of

faith, Jesus has made a fantastic promise. Now, we've discussed this before in an earlier message. He says, if you say to this mountain, get out of the way, it shall remove. Now, the mountain, as we pointed out before, stands for anything that blocks my doing of the will of God. Anything that stands in my path of accomplishing the will of God. Anything that stands in my path of accomplishing the will of God. The mountains in the Bible are used as symbols of barriers, of hindrances, of those things that prohibit us from doing what God has called us to do. Now, if God has called me to be something, if God has called me to do something, I can pretty well expect to

find a mountain in my path every once in a while. Christian life is not unopposed. Ship of Zion's a man of war, folks, not a luxury liner. There is a battle. There is a conflict. And no person ever sets out to obey the will of God without finding along the way a mountain blocking his path, some problem, some circumstance, some opportunity of the enemy to keep us from doing what God has called us to do and to keep us from being what God has called us to be. Jesus said, you can say to this mountain, get out of the way and it shall remove. And to me, the great thing that Jesus is telling us is this,

that if I know how to believe God, if I know how to believe God, there's not anything that can keep me from being what God wants me to be and there's not anything that can prevent me from doing what God wants me to do. For when God reveals his will to us and we obey that will, all the resources of heaven are placed at our disposal so that we can be successful.

And I want to repeat it, there's not anything that can keep you from doing the will of God if you know how to trust him. Jesus said, have faith in God, for I say unto you, if you believe in your heart and do not doubt in your heart, you can say to this mountain, whatever it is that's standing in your path, remove and get out of the way. Have you moved any mountains lately? Are you up against an obstacle?

You say, well, man, I tell you, I've been saying to that mountain, get out of the way, get out of the way, and nothing has happened so far. What I want to do today is to talk to you about appropriating faith. How do we appropriate this faith? And I believe the Lord Jesus gives us some specific help in this passage on how to obtain the things that God has promised. I think if you and I would be honest this morning, we would have to say that a great deal of our Christian life has been lived in

spiritual poverty. That while God has placed a certain amount in our heavenly bank account, we've not been able to cash many checks on it. And I think our average experience, our general experience, has been that we have fallen far short of receiving those things that God has made available to us. So let me make three suggestions today on this matter of appropriating faith. The first thing that comes to me as I read this passage is this, that if I am to obtain the things that God has promised, there must first of all be confidence in what God has promised. There must be a conviction that what God has promised is so. Confidence in what God has promised. Look at that 23rd verse. Jesus says, For verily I say unto you,

that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea. So far, so good. I can do that. Ah, here it comes. And shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe. Well, if he just hadn't put that word doubt in there, I'd be all right. Is it possible for a person to live without doubt?

Is it possible for me, when I'm facing an obstacle, when I'm facing some tremendous problem in my life that is hindering me, is it possible for me to be free, absolutely, totally free from doubt? I don't see how it can. And I'll tell you, this is one of the things

that for many, many years kept me from exercising any kind of real faith. Because I couldn't keep the doubt from coming. No matter how hard I tried to ignore it, there still, every once in a while, is a little rumor, a little nudge, a little hint of uncertainty, of doubt. Will this really happen? Is this really going to work out? You know, there are times when I just, I don't have any trouble with it. I know everything's going to

work out, and then I wake up the next day and find that doubt has moved into my mind, and as far, as hard as I try to dismiss those thoughts, there is doubt. Now, let's look at this for a moment and see what Jesus is referring to. The word doubt is a very interesting word. It translates a word that means to be at odds with oneself. It means to waver between two opinions. It expresses a hesitation to act affirmatively. There's something to be done, and you want to do it, but yet there's a reluctance to do it. And there's an inward battle going on.

Literally, the word means to separate things one from another. Now, I've found that a great deal of my Christian living, especially when it relates to praying, is that I have, even while I'm facing these things, I'm separating things into two different categories. You know what the categories are? Possible and impossible. Possible and impossible. And I have trouble with this, separating different things into those categories, and once in a while

I come up to something, and the only category I can put that into is impossible. And what nullifies our faith is this, that we're constantly looking upon things with this viewpoint. This is possible. This is impossible. This is possible. This is impossible. We do it every day practically in our Christian life. When it comes to the work of the church, when it comes to my own individual life, I'm always saying, this is possible. This is impossible. This is possible. This is easy. This is hard. Now, Jesus says that when you come to exercise faith, you must not do that. You must not do that. You must not separate things into two different categories, for when you are dealing with God, folks, there's only one category. All things are possible. All things are possible. Flip back over to the 10th chapter of the Gospel of Mark,

and you have there the account of the rich young ruler that came to Jesus. And you know the story when Jesus then gave that little message on riches, and they that be rich can with difficulty enter into the kingdom of God. Verse 27, and Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God. For with God all things are possible. Now, that little preposition with is a little preposition that means face to face, brought face to face with God. Now, I want you to see what Jesus is saying. There are certain things that when you face them, when you face them, they're impossible. Face to face with this mountain, it's impossible. But Jesus says that's not the place to leave it.

You take that problem, you take that mountain, you take that difficulty, and you stand it up to God's face, and you bring it face to face with God. Now, things, when they're brought face to face with us, we're facing them, and it's our problem and it's our difficulty. Those things are impossible. But when we present them to God, bring them face to face with God, all things become possible. So there's only one legitimate category when you're dealing with God, and it says all things become possible. So there's only one legitimate category

when you're dealing with God, and it says all things are possible. So the first thing that we need to understand is this, that Jesus is saying when you come to this mountain and when you exercise faith, you must not separate. You must not hesitate to act as though this might be impossible. With God, all things are

possible. Now, notice the location of this doubt that Jesus is speaking of. He says, and shall not doubt in his heart. Shall not doubt in his heart. One day as I was reading the book of Hebrews, I came across a very interesting expression. A heart of unbelief. Have you noticed that? You'll find it several times. A heart of unbelief. I would have thought he would have said a head of unbelief. Isn't it in the head that we do not believe?

Jesus speaks of a heart of unbelief. He says, shall not doubt in his heart. Now, let me explain what I believe he's saying. The heart is the control center of a man's life. It's the center of all his being. In the scriptural language, the heart is the seat of a man's personality. It is the control panel, the steering wheel of his life. Now, I want to tell you something.

I do not believe it is possible for a man to keep doubts from falling into his mind. I do not think there's any way possible that you can prohibit the devil from sending little thoughts of doubts through your mind. I do not believe there's any way possible that can be prevented. D.L. Moody said once that I can't keep a bird from lighting on my head, but I don't have to let him build a nest there. And what he was referring to, of course, was that he can't keep the devil from passing certain thoughts through his mind, but he does not have to entertain them. Now, there is no way that I am going to be free from certain doubtful thoughts that pass through my mind.

But what Jesus, I believe, is saying is this. You must not allow these doubts to fall into your heart and find root in your control center, you must not let these doubts control you. You must not let these doubts rule you. You must not let these doubts be the deciding factor. While you are in the process of exercising faith, there very well may be some doubts pass through your mind. So what? You must not allow those things to dictate your action. I have a very dear friend who was preaching along this line. He said something that just really blessed me.

He said, when you think you don't have faith, act like you have it anyway. And I got to thinking about that. At first, that sounded a little bit wrong and the more I thought about it the more I realized that fellow was absolutely true absolutely correct because there are going to come those doubtful thoughts into your mind

but don't pay any attention to them don't let them find lodgment in your heart. Don't let them control you. Do not let them dictate to you. You go ahead as though you never had a doubt. I believe this is what Jesus is saying. The word doubt means to hesitate, to refuse to act affirmatively. I may have in my mind certain little thoughts of doubt, but regardless of that, don't pay any attention to it, in my heart I'm going to believe. Where my control center is, I'm going to believe.

Where my will chooses, I'm going to believe. And so I'll just go ahead and act like faith even if I feel like I don't have faith. For in the final analysis, my friend, faith is simply my acting on the revealed will of God. You see, faith is a response. Faith is a response. Faith must always have something to spark it.

It is a response. Faith may lie dormant in a man's heart and then something happens and faith is brought to life. Faith is simply a response, and it is a response to the Word and the will of God. And so when God reveals His will to me, when God reveals His Word to me, I act upon the known Word and will of God. You see, faith isn't my saying, well, if I want something badly enough

and I believe it, I'll have it. Folks, that's not faith. That's the power of positive thinking. Now, I'm not against the power of positive thinking. I think that's a good way to live. But don't call it biblical faith, for it isn't. The power of positive thinking says if you believe something hard enough, you'll have it.

That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says if you believe what something hard enough, you'll have it. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says if you believe what God has promised, you'll have it. And, friend, if God hasn't promised it, you can believe all day long, and God will never give it to you. You see, faith isn't a means of my getting my will done in heaven. It's a means of getting God's will done on earth. I hear what God says. I see what he has promised in his word.

And I choose to act upon that positively, affirmatively. And I act upon it, disregarding whatever doubtful thoughts may pass through my mind. I refuse to let them build a nest there. I refuse to let them drop down into my heart and make a home there, and I choose to act on what God has said. And I believe that's exactly what Jesus Christ is saying to us here. The first thing is this. There must be that confidence, that conviction in what God has promised. Now, the second thing that comes to mind as I read this verse is this.

Not only must there be a confidence or a conviction in what God has promised, but Jesus says in verse 23 there must be a confession of what God has promised. Let's read the 23rd verse again. And you watch for how many times he uses the word says. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. Three times Jesus mentions the believer saying something. That is a confession. Now the last phrase in verse 23 is a spiritual principle that is never violated nor broken. He shall have whatsoever he saith. He

shall have whatsoever he saith. I have made in the past few years what I hope to be a fairly thorough study on the power of the spoken word, and I have been absolutely amazed at how much the Bible has to say about the power of a spoken word. Have you ever studied that? Have you ever given any thought to that? Did you realize that Jesus says that if a man speaks a word against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him in this life nor in the world to come? Did you know that the Bible says that every man shall give an account for every word that he shall speak?

It doesn't say so much that he shall give an account for every thought that he shall speak. Doesn't say so much that he shall give an account for every thought that he shall think, but he shall give an account for every word that he shall speak. And the book of James says that the tongue is the most powerful member of a body. And if a man doesn't offend in his tongue, he is a perfect man. And if a man is not able to bridle his tongue, that man's religion is non-existent. He says, if there be one among you that seems to be religious, that has all of the trappings of religion

and yet he does not bridle his tongue, he says, that man's religion is vain. There's nothing to it. It's non-existent. It's all show. He says, with the tongue we're able to bless men and curse men. With the tongue we're able to bless men and curse men. With the tongue we're able to bless God and curse God.

In Romans chapter 10, Paul says, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And there is an inseparable connection in the Bible between heart belief and mouth confession.

For confession is simply faith turned inside out. And faith must always express itself. Faith must always confess. Now notice what Jesus says. He shall have whatsoever he saith. He shall have whatsoever he saith. So let me put it another way. You possess what you confess. Your Christian life will never rise above the level of your confession. You possess what you confess. Jesus says, whatsoever you say, you'll have. There must be a confession, which is an affirmation, which is the seal of faith. There must be a confession of what God has promised.

Now, what do most Christians go around confessing all the time? Hmm? I'll tell you what most Christians go around confessing all the time. They go around confessing weakness. They go around confessing doubt. They go around confessing fear. They go around confessing weakness. They go around confessing doubt. They go around confessing fear. They go around confessing failure. Do you know what most Christians have all the time? They have weakness. They have doubt. They have fear. They have failure. Why? Because you possess

what you confess. How many times have I heard somebody say, oh, I'm just such a weak Christian? Well, you certainly are. And you'll keep on being weak Christian as long as that's what you're confessing because what you confess with your mouth is what you believe in your heart. Jesus said, out of the abundance of a man's heart, does he speak. Now, he doesn't say, out of a man's heart does he speak, but he said, out of the abundance of his heart does he speak. Now, he doesn't say, out of a man's heart does he speak, but he

said, out of the abundance of his heart does he speak. In other words, what you say reveals what you're filled with, what is really controlling you, what is really dominating you in your heart. This is what you express. You know the old Freudian slip of the tongue? You say something, oh, you didn't mean to say it, but that is really what is in abundance in your heart. The tongue very rarely ever scoops down to the bottom of the barrel of my heart and pick up a little something. It always skims it off the top, whatever it's filled with.

What I confess with my mouth is what is really full and controlling in my heart. So, when I confess weakness, I'm believing weakness. When I'm confessing failure, I'm confessing failure. And listen, we worry and we fret and we see this mountain, we see this task that God has given us, and we say, well, I just don't believe it'll work. I just don't believe I can do it. I just don't believe it'll work. I don't believe it'll work. And I'm giving voice.

I'm vocalizing and verbalizing what's in my heart. And by that, I am sealing myself to be exactly what I said. Now, what's a Christian supposed to confess? Well, he's to confess that he is what God says he is. I'd like to challenge you to do something. You go home and you look up some of those real neat promises in the Bible, some of those verses that state what you are in Jesus Christ, and you commit those to memory. And when you find doubt beginning to enter into your mind, you begin confessing what God says you are. For instance, God says we're more than conquerors through him that loved us. Is that what you confess? When you meet that temptation today, or when that problem presents itself to you,

is that what you confess? Do you confess, I'm more than conquerors? Or do you confess, oh my, I'll never make it? God says you're more than conquerors through him that loved you. Confess it. God says I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

Confess that. God says I am complete in Christ. Confess that. God says, I am complete in Christ. Confess that. God says in Romans 5, 17, that we reign in life by Christ Jesus. I like the way Phillips translates that. He says, we live like kings. Is that what you confess? In 1 Corinthians, he says, all things are yours.

Is that what you confess? You see, there must be an affirmation. Always in the Bible, God demands that what is in the heart be expressed vocally, verbally, in the mouth. You say, why? I don't know. I really don't know, but I don't need to know as long as God tells me to do it. That ought to be enough reason for us.

I have some ideas why I think he tells us to do it, and one reason is this. I think that when I confess it with my mouth, that makes it more solid and more firm and more real in my heart. When I hear myself say it, I think another reason it's good to confess it is because I have an idea the old devil can hear it. And I'm rebuking him, and I'm confessing before him that I'm not what he says I am, I'm what God says I am. There must be a confession of what God has promised. Now, you want to know how you can keep the doubt that enters into your mind from sinking down into your heart?

By confessing. By confessing. Greatest war weapon against doubt, my friend, is confession. I don't pretend to be any super saint when it comes to faith by any means. And I tell you, any time I sit out to believe God for a certain need in my life or a certain problem in my life, I know there are going to be those arrows of doubt. And when I find my faith beginning to slip and I find doubt beginning to inch its way into my life,

you know what I do? I begin to confess. I begin to confess. I can go to the place of prayer and I just simply confess to God, I agree with God, I say the same thing about that situation that God has said about it.

I say the same thing about me that God has said about it. I say the same thing about me that God has said about me. And you know what happens? I find that doubt cannot breathe the pure atmosphere of confession. And the best way that you can keep doubt from entering into your heart and that you can hang on to the positive affirmation of that faith, is with the weapon of confession. The more I study faith, the more I study faith, the more I am convinced that the great weapon of faith is praise and confession. The way to overcome doubt, my friends, is not trying to psych yourself or convince yourself something is true. The way to overcome doubt is by confessing

that what God has said in His Word is true and praising Him for what He said. And you'll find this to be absolutely necessary in the life of prayer. For when you have prayed and you know God has heard, and while you're waiting for the answer, there are going to be the attacks of doubt. And the only way that you can cling to that faith and keep that prayer valid before God

is by praise and confessing that what God has promised in His Word and what He's promised to do in prayer is true and praising Him for the answer. Okay, the third suggestion is this. First of all, confidence in what God has promised. Secondly, a confession of what God has promised. And thirdly, there must be the claiming of what God has promised. The claiming of what God has promised. Look at verse 24.

Therefore, notice the little word therefore. Anytime you find the word therefore, ask what it's there for. It's always an index finger that points back to what has immediately been said and ties this particular verse onto it. It is a practical application. Jesus said, don't doubt in your heart. Believe that what you say will come to pass. You'll have whatever you say. Therefore, therefore, how do you express this faith? How then do you tie the knot in this bundle of faith? He says,

therefore, I say to you, what things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them. Now, I want to make two comments about this. Number one, prayer is the true expression of faith. And I express that faith and claim by faith through prayer. Now let me give you just a couple of illustrations of what I mean. I've said that that mountain is anything that stands between me and doing the will of God. It is a barrier that the enemy has thrown against me to prevent my accomplishing God's will. Several years ago, I was out in Colorado in a meeting, and it was a men's retreat.

We had about 300 men there that night, and the chapel out at this retreat ground had no PA system in it, and I do not have a real big booming voice that carries a long way, and I desperately need a PA system. Well, they had no PA system, but they said the acoustics are great, and you just keep that in mind and keep the volume turned up a little bit as loud as you can in your own voice, and they'll be able to hear. Well, well and good. Friday night session was just great. Had no problem. The acoustics were good in there. Saturday morning was great. Saturday night we came to the closing session. God had really been moving, and all of us were anticipating God really doing something that night. The wind started to blow.

Here's the pulpit. Right over here is a door that leads to the outside, and I don't know if it was the weather stripping or what was loose on that door, but have you ever heard the wind, a strong wind howl underneath the door? Sounds like a siren. From the moment that evening service started, the wind began to blow, and it blew around the door and under the door and made such a loud howling siren-type noise you couldn't even hear yourself sing. The man up there leading the music, you couldn't hear him announce the songs. And I knew I was in trouble, and everybody else did. I don't mind knowing I'm in trouble, but what bothers me is when everybody else knows I'm in trouble also.

And everyone knew that I was in trouble because they knew I had a difficult time anyway being heard without a PA. There was no chance. I sat there. I sat there. I said, Lord, what's going on? This is the final night,

and this is the night that we prayed for and you're wanting to do something and they'll not be able to hear me with that wind blowing. We're singing the last song. I sat there and suddenly I remembered this verse

and I remembered that the Lord Jesus had trouble with the wind two or three times and I thought to myself, well, if the Lord has stilled the wind before, he ought to be able to still the wind now. I said, Lord, you brought me up here to preach the word of God, and you have this service planned from eternity,

and you have no intention, it was never your intention, to have the service and the word of God destroyed by a wind blowing around the door. I said, I believe that you can stop that wind. And so I sat there and I prayed. And I said, Lord, that wind is a mountain. And it's going to keep me from doing what you've called me up here to do. Now, Lord, if you don't want me to preach,

that's all right. This is your business and I'm your man. And this is your responsibility. And if you want it to be blown away by the wind, that's fine and good with me. But I don't believe you do, and I feel certain that you want that wind to stop. And so I simply prayed and asked the Lord to rebuke that wind and still that wind. You know what happened? Nothing.

The wind kept on blowing. All through that last song, kept on blowing. I said, okay, Lord, if that's the way you want it. And I sat there and I said, no, that's not the way the Lord wants it. I said, Lord, I know you're going to stop that wind. I know it in my heart. Wind kept on blowing. Man finished his song. He sat down. The moment I got to my feet, started walking to the pulpit, that wind stopped, just like somebody turned off the switch.

I preached for an hour and 15 minutes. The wind never even whispered, much less how. The minute I finished my message and we finished the service and I sat down, the wind started up again, blowing like a crazy siren. And I said, thank you, Lord. That was a mountain that was standing in my path. I was to go to Gulfport, Mississippi to speak at a retreat, and I flew into New Orleans. Plane was late, missed my connection, and so I said, well, how can I get to Gulfport? I've got to be there in an hour and 15 minutes to speak, and they said, well, there's a little charter

airline down here that can probably take you. They fly down there, and so I went down to that place, and, you know, it's one of those airlines where the same person that sells you the ticket is the same person that takes your bags, and it's the same person that opens the gate, and it's almost the same person that flies the plane. And so there were four of us together, and my wife and my music director and his wife,

and so we said, we'll take'll take this they said we can get you there at seven o'clock i have to speak at 7 30. so we got out in that little six seat cherokee i believe it was climbed up over the wing and got in that plane and sat down we took off and as we drew near to gulfport mississippi the pilot said well we may have to turn back. And I looked out and there was fog moving in everywhere, just fog moving in everywhere. And he said, we have reports, you know, the radio, you could hear it, that Gulfport was fogged in. Now, what really made me nervous was that pilot pulled some kind of book out of a little compartment and all I could glance on it was something about

fog landing, and I thought, boy, this is not a very good time for him to start studying up on landing in the fog. I sat back there in the back seat of that plane, and just fog everywhere, and I thought about the wind in Colorado. I said, Lord, I believe if you can control the wind, you can control the fog, and here again, I don't mind going back to New Orleans if you, you know, if you don't want me to preach, but Lord, I don't believe you've got us all the way down here to be pulled back by fog, and you've called me to preach, and you've brought these men here, and Lord, I'm asking in Jesus' name just to part that fog. We flew on. We came to Gulfport, and Gulfport, Mississippi,

was socked in solid with fog except one place. Folks, you could look down, and it was as though somebody had taken a pair of scissors and cut a patch out of that fog. And you know the only place that was visible over Gulfport, Mississippi

was the landing strip, the landing field. Tyler put his little book back to my relief. He said, I believe we can make it. I said, I know we can make it. And he knows that thing down. And we came in and landed on that airstrip. I got out of the plane.

And as I got out of the plane, I looked up, of the plane I looked up and that fog just closed in. We were the last plane in to go for it that night. Now, I want to tell you something. That was a mountain that was standing in my path of doing what God wanted me to do. And I knew that God wanted me to be there to preach.

If he didn't, that was all right. I think you have to be willing to accept the will of God whatever it is. But I felt in my heart, I knew this was the will of God. I confessed it, and I claimed it, and God did it. I believe that one of the most important parts of faith and prayer is receiving. I'm convinced that most of us do not know how to receive from God. Now, the second thing I want to point out in this verse 24 is this matter of receiving. Notice what he says, therefore I say unto you, what things soever you desire, when you pray, now watch it,

believe that you receive them and you shall have them. Now we discussed this, I believe it was Monday. And what Jesus is saying is this, when you pray for something, believe you've already got it and then you'll get it. That is simply saying, claim it. It is yours. You may not see it. You may not be able to feel it. You may not be able to smell it, taste it, touch it, but it is yours because faith says so. One of the promises that I have found to be so helpful in my own life is James 1.5. If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally,

and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. There was a period in my life when I needed wisdom more than I needed anything else. And you know how you are at times like that. You feel like wisdom is the last thing you have. And my family and I went through a period of time where it seemed that every day I was called upon to make strategic, desperate decisions. And folks, I didn't know what to do.

Well, that context in James is talking about trials. And I think what he's saying is this. When you're in the midst of a trial, when you're in the midst of a trying situation and you don't know what to do, if you lack wisdom, and wisdom is the ability to know what is right and do it. It is the insight that God gives you

to know what is right and then to do it. It is the insight that God gives you to know what is right and then to do it. And I didn't know what was right. I didn't know what decision ought to be made. And I would pray, God, you promised to give me wisdom. Lord, give me wisdom. Lord, give me wisdom. And then I would sit around waiting for wisdom. I wouldn't feel any wiser. I don't know what I was expecting. I guess I was expecting some overpowering, overwhelming feeling that made me feel wise. Maybe I was expecting somebody in the middle of the night to call me up on the phone and just utter a sentence that would tell me everything I was supposed to do, some mysterious, you know, mystical sort of thing. And I worried over that,

and it seemed I was making no progress. And one day in my study at my office, I was reading that verse again, and I saw what I'd been missing. If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given.

Aorist tense. Right then. It shall be given. It shall be given. But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting, that same word, not hesitating to act affirmatively. And that's what I saw. God said, if you ask for wisdom,

it'll be given to you. But don't hesitate to act in an affirmative manner. And I'll tell you what I did. I believed I learned the secret of how to receive. I faced another one of those situations. A decision was demanded, had to be made,

and if it was the wrong decision, the results could be very, very serious. And I went to the Lord and I said, Father, I don't know what to do. I'm not competent to handle this situation, but you said that if any man lacked wisdom, Lord, that's me, I qualify. I lack wisdom, that you would give me wisdom and you'd give it liberally. And so, Lord, I'm asking you to give me wisdom and I thank you that it's mine.

And you know what I did? I got up off my knees and I made the decision that seemed best to me. I made the decision that seemed right to me. You see, what I had been assuming was that when God gives you something, he bypasses your natural abilities, he bypasses your natural faculties,

but I was wrong. And a lot of folks have the idea if God reveals something to you, you don't have to think. Listen, God has not gone to all the trouble of creating this marvelous mind, this brain and its thought processes and then abandoning.

It's not that. I know there may be occasional times when God gives you something that you don't have to even think about, but that is not the general way God works. And God will renew that mind and the Spirit of God will enable that mind and God will give you that wisdom. And here's what I did. God said he gave me the wisdom. That's what he said in the Word. So I have the right to assume that when I thought and measured and weighed and evaluated and came to a conclusion,

I had the right to assume that that was the wisdom of God operating through me. I just did what I thought was best. And God is my witness. I can look back on it now, and every one of those particular decisions turned out to be right. God gave me wisdom. God gave me wisdom. The same thing about the will of God. I've asked God to lead me in certain things, and then I waited for some,

you know, cloudburst or some lightning in the sky, some mysterious, miraculous thing to show me the will of God, and I discovered one day that doing the will of God was just simply doing what you wanted to do after you've committed it to the Lord, you see. He says, delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart. God leads you folks through your desires. Now, I want to tell you something. If you are committed to the Lord and surrendered to him, and you've handled this thing, handed this thing over to him,

I promise you, God will give you the desire to do his will. You say, what about Jonah? He didn't want to go to Nineveh. No, but he wasn't surrendered either. You say, what about Jonah? He didn't want to go to Nineveh. No, but he wasn't surrendered either. You say, he wasn't delighting in the Lord. He was delighting in his prejudice. You delight in the Lord, he'll give you the desires of your heart.

I was talking to a fellow this summer, and he said, I don't know what to do. I feel like maybe God wants me to preach. I said, what do you want to do? He said, well, I want to preach. Well, I said, preach. Oh, but he said, I don't know if that's me or the Lord. I said, let me ask you a question. As far as you know, as much as in you is, are you surrendered

to the Lord? Have you turned your life over to the Lord? Yes. I said, then why do you assume that what you want and the Lord? Have you turned your life over to the Lord? Yes. I said, then why do you assume that what you want and the Lord wants are two different things? I've had members of my church say, you know, I started a witness

to somebody yesterday, but I didn't know if it was me that wanted to do it or the Lord. You know, we're so worried about being selfish and we're trying to be our own Holy Spirit. Listen, if you do something wrong, the Holy so worried about being selfish. We're trying to be our own Holy Spirit. Listen, if you do something wrong,

the Holy Spirit will let you know. You see, God leads us through the desires of our heart. Listen, friend, if God wants you to go to Africa as a missionary, you surrender to him. He'll put such a desire in your heart to go to Africa that if you can't find a boat, you'll swim. We try to make this too difficult, folks. We try to make this too otherworldish,

as though, you know, only a certain favored few have enough spiritual gifts and enough spiritual might to be able to discern the will of God. We try to make this too difficult, friend. Listen, God wants all of His children to have wisdom. And God promises all of His children the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

And you need to learn to trust God's ability to give you the ability. You see? Spirit, and you need to learn to trust God's ability to give you the ability, you see. And I discovered that if I asked God for wisdom, He gave it to me. And so I sat down, and I thought, and I weighed, and I evaluated, and when I came up with what seemed to me the best and the right thing to do, I had the right to assume that was the wisdom of God. And when I was facing a decision about the will of God and I committed that thing to Him and in prayer asked for His leadership and His guidance, I had the right to assume then

that the continuing overwhelming desire of my heart... At one time I had two desires. They were both contrary, and I waited. I just waited. And gradually, as the days and weeks passed, one desire began to wane,

and one grew stronger, and one grew stronger, and one continued and persevered. And I said, that's the will of God. And it was. You see, you claim what God has promised.

It's yours. It's yours. And you act affirmatively. Now, until it is clear, until you know what to do, don't do anything. Until there is a predominant desire in that direction,

don't do anything. When in doubt, don't. Give God the benefit of the doubt. Don't ever let anybody hurry you, rush you into making a decision where God is concerned. You're always in danger when you do that. But claim it and then be willing to wait until God gives you definite leadership,

until you know what you ought to do. You really feel this is the right, this is the best thing to do. And I always, I always put a little safeguard in there. I say, Lord, this is what I feel is right. This is what I want to do. This is what I believe to be right. But Lord, I'm willing to be changed.

And I'm going to start off down this road, and if you don't want me to travel down this road you're going to have to stop me and the Lord will in closing and the time is way gone several years ago I was called to another church church was twice the size of the one I was pastoring. My closest friends all said they had received words from God that I was supposed to go. That's right. The men in this world that I have most confidence in, every one of them said, you're supposed to go. I got a phone call, a long-distance phone call, before the poll committee ever contacted me,

and three men, I could name all three of them, and every one of you would know who they were. Most of you would know who they were. They're well-known men. Some of the most well-known men in Christian circles, they called and said, Ron, we've been in a prayer meeting about this church, and God gave us your name. Boy, that would impress you.

But I didn't feel a thing in my heart, not a thing, had no desire at all. Pulpit Committee contacted me about a month later, kept on, kept on. I said, not interested, not interested. They came, flew down. We had lunch, not interested. They said, would you just fly down? Look. I said, all right. My wife and I went down. We looked, nothing. Came back, said, not interested. They said, won't you come down and preach for us? Said, not interested. They said, come on. We'll fly your whole family, family, first class down there. You need a vacation, no strings attached? I said, sounds good. I'll do it, but I want to tell you something. I'm going to be honest with you. I called them up long distance. I'm going to be honest with you. If I come and I preach and you call me, I'm going to say no. They said, that's all right. We want you to come down. I've never seen anybody so convinced that that was the will

of God in my life as that bunch. All ten of them went down there, and they were already calling that church my church. We're from Brother Dunn's church. That's what they were saying. I said, well, I guess what's going to happen is I'm going to get out there and preach, and then God's just going to zap me with it, you know, boom, hit me with it all of a sudden. I preached. God blessed.

I didn't feel a thing. They called me unanimously that night. I said, no. They stayed after me. They called me one day and said, can you honestly say that God will never lead you to our church? I said, no, I can't say that. He will never lead me to that church.

I mean, that would be impossible for me to say. They said, well, we're going to wait. Well, I want to tell you something. By this time, I allowed myself to be utterly confused. We began to have some personal problems. Things began to go wrong. We began to have difficulties. And everything began to look better over here on this side. And all my friends, and my last friend,

who had held out and had not said a word, called me on the phone while we were talking. He said, I believe, boy, I visited there, and I just see you there. You're there. So I went away, rented a motel room, got on my knees, and I said, Lord, I must be dense. Everybody thinks I'm supposed to go.

Logic says the church is twice the size of the one I'm pastoring. Everything says I'm supposed to go. And, Lord, I'll be honest with you, I don't know now. And I don't know what I want to do. Lord, I don't even know what I want to do so Lord here's what I want to do it seems to me I just don't know but I'm so confused

it looks like the best thing to do is to go and so Lord I'm going to call them and I'm going to tell them I'm coming but Lord I don't want to go if you don't want me to go and so if you don't want me to go you stop so if you don't want me to go, you stop it. I called them on a Wednesday night at six o'clock. They got on the

phone. I opened my mouth and folks, as God is my witness, I couldn't say a word. I could not say a word. My mouth was stopped. I couldn't utter a word. Finally, I said, I'll call you back in 30 minutes. I hung up. I looked at my wife. I said, I don't know what's the matter. I said, I couldn't utter a word. Finally, I said, I'll call you back in 30 minutes. I hung up. I looked at my wife. I said, I don't know what's the matter. I said, I couldn't talk. So we waited and we prayed. 30 minutes later, I called them up. I was determined to say, I accept. And I started to say, I accept. And folks, I couldn't talk. I've never, I've never been struck dumb before, but I was. I couldn't talk. I couldn't say the words.

And finally, I'm pretty quick, you know, it dawned on me. And I said, Brother Jim, God doesn't want me to come. This is not the will of God. He doesn't want me to come. And this is the final word and I hung up and I want you to know from that moment to this

I've never had one doubt one hesitation what I'm saying is this there will be times there will be times when you will be confused and you will be frustrated and you will allow yourself

to be panicked into making a decision which you ought not to do. But I believe this. If you are committed to the will of God and you want that more than anything else, regardless of what it is, I don't believe God will let you get out of his will without your knowing it.

He'll stop you. He'll block you. He may put Balaam's donkey there to talk to you, to get you to go back, but I believe he'll stop you. It's block you. He may put Balaam's donkey there to talk to you, to get you to go back, but I believe he'll stop you. It's a matter of claiming. Lord, I claim your wisdom. I claim your leadership. I claim the intuition of the Holy Spirit. I claim whatever it is you promised, and then you act on the basis of having received that. Well, thank you for listening. I went much longer than I intended to,

but I wanted to put it all together, and I appreciate the way you listened so patiently. Ron Dunn's podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. For more Ron Dunn materials, sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from his study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.