WEBVTT 00:00:01.159 --> 00:00:08.099 Feel his glorious presence. He is nearer to you 00:00:08.099 --> 00:00:14.919 than you could possibly know. So near you just 00:00:14.919 --> 00:00:21.219 need to reach out and touch his seamless robe. 00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:29.879 So near to you. that he sees the falling tears 00:00:29.879 --> 00:00:41.920 so near he hears that sigh. Father, in Jesus' 00:00:42.219 --> 00:00:50.200 name, be that one's strengthener. Give victory 00:00:50.200 --> 00:00:55.799 this moment where there's defeat. Just now, make 00:00:55.799 --> 00:01:00.259 that one's sun to shine again, for the clouds 00:01:00.259 --> 00:01:08.920 are so dark. No man, no woman need ever be defeated. 00:01:09.719 --> 00:01:14.859 Not so long as God is still on his throne and 00:01:14.859 --> 00:01:20.019 hears an answer's prayer. I cannot see with my 00:01:20.019 --> 00:01:27.010 small human sight. Why God should lead this way 00:01:27.010 --> 00:01:34.409 or that for me? I only know he saith, child, 00:01:34.730 --> 00:01:43.489 follow me. But I compressed. I know not why my 00:01:43.489 --> 00:01:47.569 past should be a time so strictly hedged, so 00:01:47.569 --> 00:01:55.459 strongly barred before. I only know God could 00:01:55.459 --> 00:02:03.019 keep wide the door, but I can trust. I often 00:02:03.019 --> 00:02:07.420 wonder, as with trembling hand I cast the seed 00:02:07.420 --> 00:02:13.599 along the furrowed ground, if ripened fruit will 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:20.020 in my life be found, but I can trust. I cannot 00:02:20.020 --> 00:02:23.360 know why suddenly the storm should rage so fiercely 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:29.099 round me in its wrath. But this I know. God watches 00:02:29.099 --> 00:02:35.879 all my path. And I can trust. I have no power 00:02:35.879 --> 00:02:38.620 to look across the tide, to see while hear the 00:02:38.620 --> 00:02:41.400 land beyond the river. But this I know. I shall 00:02:41.400 --> 00:02:54.080 be God's forever. And so I trust. In all these 00:02:54.080 --> 00:03:00.039 things, we are more than conquerors through him 00:03:00.039 --> 00:03:03.460 that loved us. Thus reads a portion of the Word 00:03:03.460 --> 00:03:05.580 of God as found in the 8th chapter of Romans, 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:11.199 the 37th verse. Let me read it again. In all 00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:19.300 these things, not things, in troubles. in tribulation, 00:03:19.379 --> 00:03:25.319 distress, trials, broken hearts, no matter what 00:03:25.319 --> 00:03:32.419 happens to you, in all these things, these discouraging 00:03:32.419 --> 00:03:34.560 things that come into your life, that come into 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:40.379 my life, you and I are not only conquerors, the 00:03:40.379 --> 00:03:45.800 Word of God says, we are more than conquerors 00:03:45.800 --> 00:03:49.699 through Him that... That's the reason I can say 00:03:49.699 --> 00:03:51.900 to you every day that I come into your home, 00:03:52.020 --> 00:03:56.080 you need not to be defeated, not on a single 00:03:56.080 --> 00:04:01.479 score, not so long as God is still on his throne 00:04:01.479 --> 00:04:04.919 and hears and answers prayer. Because he has 00:04:04.919 --> 00:04:11.500 promised that we are more than conquerors over 00:04:11.500 --> 00:04:15.039 all of these things that come into our lives. 00:04:16.330 --> 00:04:21.629 through Him who loves us with an everlasting 00:04:21.629 --> 00:04:25.509 love. Oh, isn't that thrilling to you? In this 00:04:25.509 --> 00:04:30.050 marvelous promise, the Lord has unloosed a flood 00:04:30.050 --> 00:04:35.930 tide of divine promise that bounds like a mighty 00:04:35.930 --> 00:04:39.230 Niagara from out of the heaven themselves. And 00:04:39.230 --> 00:04:44.490 it's just like that. There is absolutely no limit. 00:04:45.050 --> 00:04:50.430 to this promise. There are no boundaries to the 00:04:50.430 --> 00:04:55.050 possibilities that you and I find in just this 00:04:55.050 --> 00:05:01.290 one promise. The powers of darkness are greater 00:05:01.290 --> 00:05:07.529 than your resolutions, are your willpower. Sometimes 00:05:07.529 --> 00:05:11.470 I think we depend too much on our own willpower. 00:05:11.689 --> 00:05:13.750 That's the reason many a man and many a woman 00:05:13.750 --> 00:05:18.050 finds themselves in defeat. Because some of these 00:05:18.050 --> 00:05:23.430 problems, some of these things are greater than 00:05:23.430 --> 00:05:33.110 man's willpower. The powers of darkness are... 00:05:33.259 --> 00:05:39.800 often greater than your willpower. And you find 00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:45.500 yourself defeated. But listen to me. The powers 00:05:45.500 --> 00:05:48.420 of righteousness, the power of Jesus Christ, 00:05:48.540 --> 00:05:55.620 is greater than all other powers combined. When 00:05:55.620 --> 00:05:59.740 resurrection life walks toward the grave, death 00:05:59.740 --> 00:06:03.930 begins to tremble. When disease and sickness 00:06:03.930 --> 00:06:07.649 seize the great physician and seals the healing 00:06:07.649 --> 00:06:10.589 virtue of the son of living God, it begins to 00:06:10.589 --> 00:06:16.589 loose its grip and lets go its cruel hold. When 00:06:16.589 --> 00:06:20.790 hellish habits cure the approach of the nail 00:06:20.790 --> 00:06:26.110 -pierced feet of our Savior, they know that the 00:06:26.110 --> 00:06:30.629 mighty conqueror himself has come, the one who 00:06:30.629 --> 00:06:36.230 breaks. Every fetter. When a man comes and says, 00:06:36.310 --> 00:06:40.689 I'm defeated. But I come into the presence of 00:06:40.689 --> 00:06:43.209 a power that's greater than any human power. 00:06:44.029 --> 00:06:47.810 Greater than my willpower. My own willpower fails. 00:06:47.949 --> 00:06:51.910 I want to be delivered from the power of liquor. 00:06:52.870 --> 00:06:56.490 I want to be delivered from this thing. I want 00:06:56.490 --> 00:07:03.189 to be set free. Believe me, I tell you. The power 00:07:03.189 --> 00:07:07.870 of the enemy begins to tremble. The enemy himself 00:07:07.870 --> 00:07:12.569 begins to tremble because he knows the power 00:07:12.569 --> 00:07:16.889 that there is in the person of Jesus Christ, 00:07:17.089 --> 00:07:23.110 God's Son. He knows that there is deliverance 00:07:23.110 --> 00:07:29.009 in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. He knows the 00:07:29.009 --> 00:07:36.509 full extent of the love. Of the person of God 00:07:36.509 --> 00:07:44.189 the Father. Oh, I found a friend. Oh, such a 00:07:44.189 --> 00:07:51.430 friend. So kind and true and tender. So wise 00:07:51.430 --> 00:07:56.970 a counselor and guide. So mighty a defender. 00:07:59.149 --> 00:08:07.149 From him. Who loves me now so well, what power 00:08:07.149 --> 00:08:16.310 my soul can sever? Shall life, or death, or earth, 00:08:16.589 --> 00:08:25.410 or hell? No, a thousand times no, for I am his 00:08:25.410 --> 00:08:34.899 forever. Pause just a few minutes. First of all, 00:08:35.019 --> 00:08:42.480 recognize His presence. Be conscious of the mighty 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:47.820 abiding presence of the Lord. May His presence 00:08:47.820 --> 00:08:52.220 be very real to you. And if His presence is real, 00:08:52.360 --> 00:08:57.860 you'll never go down in defeat. Never. As we 00:08:57.860 --> 00:09:02.789 walk and talk with Him, His presence overshadows 00:09:02.789 --> 00:09:07.970 us. As the great ministering hosts say, talk 00:09:07.970 --> 00:09:14.169 about power. If you and I only fully knew the 00:09:14.169 --> 00:09:19.769 power that there is in the very presence of our 00:09:19.769 --> 00:09:24.789 Lord, we'd never be discouraged again, not so 00:09:24.789 --> 00:09:29.080 long as we live. You want to know something? 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:33.259 My heart never ceases to thrill to the experience 00:09:33.259 --> 00:09:38.360 of Elisha and his servant. I love it. Just for 00:09:38.360 --> 00:09:40.659 my own encouragement. Just for my own benefit. 00:09:41.379 --> 00:09:47.899 I read it ever so often. And each time, I benefit 00:09:47.899 --> 00:09:51.860 greatly. The account of which, of course, is 00:09:51.860 --> 00:09:55.659 given in the sixth chapter of 2 Kings. Oh, this 00:09:55.659 --> 00:09:58.539 is wonderful. Seemingly Elisha and his servant 00:09:58.539 --> 00:10:02.080 were at their wit's end. And on the surface of 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:07.639 things, there couldn't possibly, there just couldn't 00:10:07.639 --> 00:10:12.179 be anything else but defeat for them. For there 00:10:12.179 --> 00:10:18.419 they were. A poor preacher and his one scared 00:10:18.419 --> 00:10:22.779 servant against the enemies, and the enemy's 00:10:22.779 --> 00:10:31.649 power was Just two of them, just Elisha and his 00:10:31.649 --> 00:10:36.370 servant, who was scared stiff, against the power 00:10:36.370 --> 00:10:39.110 of a mighty army. Now, on the surface of things, 00:10:39.289 --> 00:10:45.789 how could Elisha and his servant possibly have 00:10:45.789 --> 00:10:49.769 victory over their enemy? In the natural, they 00:10:49.769 --> 00:10:55.399 couldn't. The whole army had come just to get 00:10:55.399 --> 00:10:59.200 this one servant of God. I always did think that 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:00.940 this was one of the greatest compliments that 00:11:00.940 --> 00:11:04.759 was ever paid to a Christian gentleman. Well, 00:11:04.759 --> 00:11:10.440 sir, Elisha's servant got scared, scared stiff. 00:11:11.500 --> 00:11:14.659 If you and I had been there, we would have seen 00:11:14.659 --> 00:11:19.919 the great beads of perspiration on his brow. 00:11:20.429 --> 00:11:24.169 and shaking. You talk about shaking in your boots. 00:11:24.269 --> 00:11:29.110 Believe me, he was shaking all over. And he turned 00:11:29.110 --> 00:11:31.669 to Elisha and said, what in the world should 00:11:31.669 --> 00:11:36.889 we do? What can we do? Let me read it. Oh, this 00:11:36.889 --> 00:11:42.269 is so thrilling. Therefore sent he thither horses 00:11:42.269 --> 00:11:49.259 and chariots and a great host. And they came 00:11:49.259 --> 00:11:53.740 by night and compassed the city. And when the 00:11:53.740 --> 00:11:56.720 servant of the man of God was risen early and 00:11:56.720 --> 00:12:02.379 gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city 00:12:02.379 --> 00:12:05.799 both with horses and chariots. And his servant 00:12:05.799 --> 00:12:10.740 said unto him, Alas, my master. Can't you just 00:12:10.740 --> 00:12:15.279 see him shaking? How shall we do? In other words, 00:12:15.320 --> 00:12:18.240 what in the world? We don't have a ghost of a 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:22.740 chance of getting out. I'm going to be dead in 00:12:22.740 --> 00:12:26.840 a few minutes. We can't turn right. We can't 00:12:26.840 --> 00:12:32.080 turn left. There is no possible victory for us. 00:12:32.740 --> 00:12:37.360 For there they are. Look. Look. The scripture 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:42.899 says, behold and host. Compass the city, both 00:12:42.899 --> 00:12:47.980 with horses and chariots and a great army. Turn 00:12:47.980 --> 00:12:56.539 just a moment. See the servant of God. Calm, 00:12:56.980 --> 00:13:07.379 unafraid, relaxed. Oh, this is beautiful. There 00:13:07.379 --> 00:13:11.519 he is. One would not have thought there was a 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:18.379 nerve in his body. Completely relaxed because 00:13:18.379 --> 00:13:23.980 of his perfect confidence in the one in whom 00:13:23.980 --> 00:13:30.000 he had his trust. And Elisha prayed and said, 00:13:30.279 --> 00:13:39.039 Lord, I pray thee, open his... Eyes that he may 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:42.879 see. You know, the thing that amazes me most 00:13:42.879 --> 00:13:46.659 is the fact that Elijah wasn't praying, Oh, Lord, 00:13:46.759 --> 00:13:52.320 save us. Oh, dear Lord, protect us. If ever you've 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:57.779 helped us, help us now. No. He had it out with 00:13:57.779 --> 00:14:02.620 God long before this moment. The time to pray 00:14:02.620 --> 00:14:07.980 isn't when trouble strikes. The time to cry out 00:14:07.980 --> 00:14:12.240 to God isn't in the moment of disaster. Get your 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:18.039 praying done before. Have your contacts made 00:14:18.039 --> 00:14:25.899 before trouble comes. Sure. And then when that 00:14:25.899 --> 00:14:29.840 trouble comes, you have perfect confidence and 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:36.600 you continue to stay relaxed. Did he pray for 00:14:36.600 --> 00:14:40.899 their protection? No. Did he pray for God to 00:14:40.899 --> 00:14:48.340 help him out of that tight spot? No. Lord, I 00:14:48.340 --> 00:14:55.379 pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And 00:14:55.379 --> 00:14:57.480 the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and 00:14:57.480 --> 00:15:02.139 he saw. And what did he see? And behold, the 00:15:02.139 --> 00:15:06.840 mountain was full of... Horses and chariots of 00:15:06.840 --> 00:15:16.419 fire round about Elisha. Doesn't that do something 00:15:16.419 --> 00:15:22.279 to you? It even relaxes me right now while I'm 00:15:22.279 --> 00:15:26.759 talking to you about it. You want to know something? 00:15:28.059 --> 00:15:35.070 God's presence with his children is a fact. And 00:15:35.070 --> 00:15:41.149 not a theory. With some people, it's just a theory. 00:15:43.409 --> 00:15:51.909 And that's all. Hear me. It's a living fact. 00:15:52.230 --> 00:16:00.090 It's a reality. That God's presence is with his 00:16:00.090 --> 00:16:08.320 children. pray but one prayer right now. If I 00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:14.220 could get you to see the love of Jesus, the compassion 00:16:14.220 --> 00:16:18.360 of Jesus, the tenderness of the Son of the Living 00:16:18.360 --> 00:16:23.019 God. If I could only get you to know the personal 00:16:23.019 --> 00:16:30.159 concern that He has for each one of us, it would 00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:33.960 be the easiest thing in the world. for you to 00:16:33.960 --> 00:16:35.860 come boldly before the Father's throne in prayer 00:16:35.860 --> 00:16:44.539 and believe Him for the answer. If only now His 00:16:44.539 --> 00:16:49.940 presence could become a reality to you, you would 00:16:49.940 --> 00:16:54.820 not be defeated in your hour of crisis. Open 00:16:54.820 --> 00:17:00.679 that precious one's eyes now that these things 00:17:00.679 --> 00:17:05.140 may become real to them. For Jesus' sake. Amen.