You know the things that are weights for you.  You know the sins that easily come against you. Lay everyone of them aside.  God has given you power to say no.  The Bible tells you to resist the Devil and he will flee from you. Paul goes further to say, II Cor. 6:14 “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you…”

What makes men and women walk into lion dens? What make God’s children choose fiery furnaces rather than deny their God? What makes just ordinary people stand up against extraordinary times and circumstances in their lives and overcome? It is our commitment. It is our love for God.  It is our faith in Him. It is Jesus and what He has already done for us. We know that what we have found in God is far better than what we will ever have to go through in this world. We love the Lord. We love His word, and we know that His Word is true.

There are some of you here today, you will never cry out.  The cross is so planted into you – so deep in you – that you will never complain about the attacks of the enemy. You are so set in the will of God for your life that you will never cry out to God for deliverance.  Why?  Because you have learned that “in all things, give God thanks (praise)”.  Why?  Because you have learned that the will of God for you right now is more important than being delivered for a season.  And you know from experience that when God is ready, He will come to deliver you.  And you know that with His grace you can wait.  And you know, that, no matter what, the Devil will get no glory out of your life.

This is why you are fought against on every side. Satan and the world is trying to break your commitment to God. He does it by bringing trouble into your life, hindering your prayers from being answered, attacking your loved ones, attacking you – your body, your faith. But God wants me to tell you today that Satan will never win. Satan will never win. Paul said, II Corinthians 4:7 “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.”

Beloved, it’s the cross. It is the cross. If the devil can separate you from the cross, he can alter God’s plan for your life. It’s the cross. If the devil can keep you from being cross conscious, then he can keep you from doing the will of God for your life. It is the cross. If the devil can take from you the cross you are to bear or uproot it out of your life, then He can rob you of the power of God and the life of God you need to make it from day to day. It is the cross. This is why the attacks. This is why the distractions. This is why the suffering. This is why trouble want leave you alone. The enemy can not afford to leave you alone – to let you take up your cross; to let you grow in faith; to let you fulfill your destiny; to let you live to do the will of God. For he knows that if you get away with carrying your cross, and somebody over here get away with carrying their cross, and others do the same, he will soon loose ground in the earth…he will loose the very souls that he thought he had, and his work would be brought to naught.

If the cross was all you had ahead of you, would you follow Christ and obey God’s will for your life? If you had no other assurance; if God held back all other helps; if He said no to friends coming to support you; if there was nothing in the natural you could hold on to; if the cross was all you had, would you still follow Christ and do the will of God? Jesus had only the cross ahead of Him. He came to die. He could not focus on family and friends. He could not get caught up on material things. He could not depend on anything in the natural. The cross was the only thing ahead for Him. And because He loved the Father; because of the joy that was set before Him, He submitted to the will of God, taking up His cross unto death.

We are the generation that will be used by God to establish His will and His kingdom in the earth.  We have His word in us. We have His Holy Spirit. He lives in us. And through us He manifests His life, kingdom life, in the earth. Through Christ we want to see lives saved. We want to see people healed. We want to see miracles. Most of all, we want to see the manifestation of the kingdom of God on earth. Most of all, we want to see His will being done through our lives on this earth. To see this, we must obey God; the Church must obey God. Then He can channel through the Church His will, His word, His power, His anointing, and His life. How many are willing to walk with God in obedience?  Then, let us surrender our all to God like all the other great men and women God. Let us be determined to have steadfast and unshakable faith. Let us commit ourselves to the Word of God daily and to prayer.  Let us resolve to never look back and let us commit our lives to obedience to God.

Obedience is the key: it is the answer.  God has released me to share it with you today so that you might receive all those things that life in the Spirit brings.  You can have exactly what God said you can have.  You can do exactly what God said you can do.  The only requirement is obedience.  And then obedience is always connected with blessings.  Read your Bible and think: those who worked miracles, those who did exploits, those who were greatly used by God, those who prospered, those who were blessed, those who rose above everyone else, were those who obeyed God.  Those who disobeyed God were cursed.  They lived a life of failure and defeat.  They were always needy.  Instead of rising above, they sank beneath.  They were always the tail instead of the head.  I want you to purpose from this day to obey God.  You owe it to yourself and you owe it to God.

The call on your life is serious. You have been called to serve God and the church of Jesus Christ. You have been called to walk in this earth by faith and glorify God in all you say and do. To do that, you must do it God’s way. Does God have your mind? Does He have your thoughts? I pray so.  I do not want you to go through what so many have gone through, especially when you do not have to. Go deep. Go deep in the word of God. Stay there for some seasons. You have plenty of time. Read and study the word. Do not look or listen to any thing else. Pray and seek God’s face. Do not turn from God. Stay with Him until He speaks into you. You life will never be the same. This is a long road, but you can travel it. You can make the journey. But you must give to God your all. For the blessings, for the things He wants to do in you and through you, you must give to God your all. Come on and say, I surrender all!

Sometimes God will allow you to be broken. God will allow you to come to your end. He will allow the rug to be snatched from under your feet. Why? Because you won’t listen to Him. You won’t trust Him. You still want to do things your way. God has to let the house fall in on you. Why? To get your attention. You are not broken enough. You are not humble enough. Your ego and pride is still in the way. Self is still in the way. God wants to bless you. Better than that, He wants to use your life. But you won’t surrender your will for His will. Listen, you are not going to win against God. You are not going to win trying to do it your way. God won’t let you win.  The best that you can do is surrender. Let go. Let old things pass away. Then let God make all things new. If you are broken, maybe, just maybe God has your attention. If you are at your end, maybe, just maybe God has your mind. If life has gone crazy on you, maybe, just maybe God can speak into you. If not, God can wait. God will allow. But why does life have to break you? Why does God have to turn your life upside down?