Pastor Dale again reinforces the link between giving, praying, and fasting in secret and God’s rewarding us openly in manifestations of the Spirit. Art Remington shared more details on G. C. Bevington, a surrendered believer and pray-er who fasted. Bob Hawk gives a word about precise precision and an exhortation to stop walking around the mountain, and then Bruce Ladebu ministered to those who felt that they were going around the mountain repeatedly. Both Bruce and Bob ministered strong prophetic and encouraging words and strong declarations of thanks and love to Gene Olon. Gene Olon spoke also.

Prophetic Conference: The next Decade (Second Night) Offering message: Acts 10 and Matt. 6:1 and 2. Fasting, praying, and giving are keys to the open reward, the manifestation. Pastor Dale: pray for yourself to have the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Deut. 34:9 tells us that Joshua was full of the spirit of wisdom after Moses laid hands on him. The Eph. 1 prayer is that we should pray for the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Gene Olon ministered on being baptized in the Holy Spirit and then ministered and laid hands on two men, who in turn ministered the prayer for receiving the spirit of wisdom and revelation along with Gene.

This service consisted of an offering sermon about fasting, praying, and giving alms (Acts 10:1-4 and Matt. 6:1 and 2). Pastor Dale shared about the powerful testimonies of Gene Olon, an Armada missionary to Romania, who is strong in seeing people baptized with the Holy Spirit and healed, along with seeing God’s provision. Sharon Hawk shared a testimony of a homeless man who saw God’s goodness and was born-again and baptized in the Spirit. Bob Hawk spoke out a word from the Lord, and Pastor Dale taught briefly about the victory of Judah by obeying God to put the praise and worship “team” in front of the army and to watch God put ambushes against the enemy (II Chron. 20). We must all enter into obedience of what God is telling us to do.

Text: Prov. 1:28-29; Prov. 2:1-5; Acts 51-11. Preparation of the heart is needed for declaring a fast. You need the fear of the Lord. What is it? It is to hate evil. Sin will make you want to hide, and if you do, then your conscience becomes hardened. Sin keeps you from intimacy with God. So what should you do when you sin? Repent, and He will pour out His Spirit. Our high-stimulus society desensitizes you to sin in the negative and to the Holy Spirit in the positive. What should you do when your heart has been seared? Listen, cry out to God for discernment and understanding. Search for God and wisdom. CHOOSE THE FEAR OF THE LORD! Listen as Pastor Dale gives personal examples of the fear of the Lord coming to him and groups of people. Just as you can choose to walk in the fear of the Lord, you can choose to walk out of it. Ananias and Sapphira did not fear the Lord and were struck dead and great fear came on the church. It’s not the experience that bring the fear of the Lord, but it’s the word that brings the fear of the Lord. You must touch and step into the fear of the Lord to know and understand it. God’s presence changes you.

II Chron. 20:1-3 tells us that Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, feared the Lord, set himself to seek the Him, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. The fast was called to seek the Lord and to hear His voice. Fasting changes the person. Spiritual things follow the physical. Cleansing takes out the toxins and wastes, just as fasting does, to help usher in a sense of the holiness of God. Before there is a corporate (a church body) fast, God has to bring unity. In Acts 10:30-34 Cornelius was fasting, praying, and giving alms, seeking the Lord, and an angel appeared to him. Did Cornelius know what he was fasting and praying for? No, but they helped prepare him to hear and obey God’s messenger. During this corporate 21-day fast in January, present your body as a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1) and keep it under.

Text: Prov. 6:6-11. Ants cooperate and communicate and do what would appear to be impossible. Be like the ant. If you do not reach your potential, you have been robbed. How do you fulfill what God has for you? 1. Know where your time goes. Use your calendar. How much time do you waste? 2. Focus on results. Get things finished. Not getting things done shows your view on time. 3. Build on your strengths. Know what is fitted for you and do what you are good at doing. Connect with people who are strong in what you are weak. 4. Know your priorities, or someone else will give you theirs. Setting a goal and priority gives you motivation. 5. Make the right decisions. If you set priorities, decisions will make themselves. Successful people master their time.

Pastor Dale continues to expound on the “Parable of the Sower and the Seed” from Mark 4. The seed that is planted is the only seed that will grow. The Word’s (the seed’s) roots need to grow so that the Word will continue to grow. Your heart’s condition (the soil) determines what you hear, so take heed to what you hear and how you are hearing. Receive the Word, and it will grow, even what you don’t understand. Watch out because Satan will tamper with your heart. Prov. 4 tells you to guard (keep) your heart. In John 15 Jesus explains that God is the gardener, and if you are born-again, you are producing fruit. He will prune and purge you WITH THE WORD (not calamity, etc.!). John 15:5- Jesus tells you that you can do nothing without Him. In Mark 4 the disciples couldn’t cast out the demon, but Jesus could, and ironically, Jesus tells you that He couldn’t do anything of Himself, but could only do what He saw Father God do (John 5:19). The father of faith is the Word of God. The mother of faith is fellowship with Him. You can hear from God for yourself. Don’t let a prophetic word be a substitute for hearing from God for yourself. Also listen to the story of Mr. Reese of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Chester Petersheim’s testimony of God’s provision.

In Isaiah 55:8-11 we learn that God’s thoughts and ways are on a higher level than ours. In order to apply what we know, we must drop our old way of thinking and grab hold of God’s thinking, like taking out the old tape recording (or CD) and putting in a new one. You will reap what you sow (Gal. 6), so sow positive-Word thoughts. Your thought-life is not faith, but it can bring you to faith. God tells us that His Word will accomplish what He pleases, and it will prosper in the thing for which He sent it. Spend time with the Lord to know His voice. It’s only the planted Word that changes people. Hold onto the rhema word and verses that God drops into your spirit. Satan is afraid of the seed being planted, but God watches over His Word to perform it (Jer. 1:12). Release and hear God’s Word, and then do what He has told you to do. Identify with the Word He’s spoken to you. Don’t fight what you need and who you are in Christ Jesus.

Pastor Dale is calling for a fast in January 2011. In Matt. 6:1-16 Jesus talks about giving to the poor, praying, and fasting as producing a reward (manifestation). All three are to be done in the secret place of your heart. “Openly”, used in this passage is the Greek word which is translated “manifestation” in other places. God wants to reward you in your giving, praying, and fasting. In Acts 10:1-4, 30-31 Cornelius gave alms, prayed, and fasted and an angel appeared to him. The secret to breakthrough and manifestation is a lifestyle of giving, praying, and fasting. It’s easier to go to a higher level of each of these if you have been doing them as a lifestyle. Fast often, as often as you give and pray (II Cor. 11:27). When you fast, you are saying “no” to the flesh and ruling over your body. You are responsible for your body, and when you rule over it in the physical, you can move out in victory in the spiritual. Fasting reveals what is in the heart. One fast is the Esther fast: no food or water for 3 days. Another is the Daniel fast: no meat or sweet bread for 21 days. Fasting works! Say “no” to the lusts of the flesh. If Jesus needed to fast for victory over the devil, you need to do so, too.

Mark 4 (The Parable of the Sower and the Seed). After the seed (the Word of God) is planted in good ground (a person’s heart), Satan comes immediately to steal the seed (the Word). He uses external influences of offenses and affliction and persecution. There’s always a contest against the Word. Then, if the Word gets past the external pressures, it comes in contact with the person’s internal forces of: 1- the cares of the world, 2- the deceitfulness of riches, 3- the desires for other things. Satan is afraid of the Word in your heart. Governments are afraid of the planted Word in the hearts of missionaries. We need to take heed to what we hear (Mark 4:24) and how we hear (Luke 8:18). You can learn from people you don’t agree with. In Mark 4:35 Jesus demonstrated how faith works: the person speaks faith with purpose (“Let’s go to the other side.”), the storm comes (the conflict, test) but the person is at rest, causing the person to reach his destination. The disciples demonstrated how the cares choke the Word (Don’t You care…?”). You will have problems because of the Word when you try to serve the Lord. What kind of people should we be? James 1:22 tells us to be doers of the Word. Wherever there’s deception entering into your life, there’s inactivity. Satan tries to talk you out of obedience through delay, reasoning, rationalization. You forget who you are when you stop acting on the Word. The Word is a mirror that shows your natural face, the way God created you. Satan is not interested in you but in the Word in you. Do what God tells you to do.

Text: Heb. 11:1, 6. Faith that pleases God requires discipline. Mark 4:14 tells us that the sower sows the seed, and the seed is the Word of God. Faith operates in an environment of resistance, conflict, and confrontation from Satan. He will use anything to steal from you. Everything the devil gives or brings is meant to be a stumbling block, but you can make it a stepping stone. Satan’s goal is to get as close to God as he can. II Cor. 10:3-5 lets us know that our warfare is not against flesh (people), but against Satan. “Plant” the seed of the Word, not what the devil tries to get you to plant. How do you plant the Word? Meditate and think about it. (Ps. 1:1-3) What comes to your thoughts at night and first thing in the morning? Delight yourself in the Word. The planting process never stops; it will either be planting the Word or emotions. Your thought-life is separate from who you are. Plant truth thoughts, and do not allow others’ opinions to influence your thinking. Who you are is who you are in Christ. What seeds are being planted in your thinking?

In Luke 11:1 and 2 the disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” They did not say, “Teach us how to pray.” You can read all about prayer, but you need to do it! Pray! In John 5:17 and 18 the Jewish people got angry with Jesus partly because He called God His Father, making Him (Jesus) equal with God. In Gal. 4:1-7 we learn that a physical son went through an adoption process to receive an inheritance. We can cry out to God through the sealing of the Holy Spirit, our adoption and God’s presence in us, to our Father God. We are God’s heirs giving us sonship rights and His inheritance. In Luke 11:5-8 Jesus tells us to ask, seek, and knock and keep on asking, seeking, and knocking. If you do not have the Holy Spirit, the problem is in the asking. Do not accept anything less than what God has given to you as His heir. Be persistent and insist until the blessing comes. DON’T GIVE UP! God tells us to keep “bugging” Him (Isaiah 62:6, 7). Do not tolerate anything from Satan- symptoms, sleeplessness, headaches…, because whatever you tolerate, you will keep. Put your foot down and insist on your rights.

Heb. 11:1 and 6; Mark 11:23 and 24; Romans 10:17; and Romans 4:20. Faith can be seen. It is evidence of what you cannot see. It’s impossible to please God without faith. You must believe that God is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Faith changes things (pragma, which means a done-deal). Your faith will work. There is a reward for your faith. There is nothing more valuable than faith. Hope is the future, but faith is now, as soon as you pray in belief. You have to have faith to release your belief. If you do not act on what you say you believe, you will not receive. If there is no present tense action, there is no faith. How do you get faith? You get it by knowing God’s Word and by hearing it. Battles are worth fighting if the victory is important. Believe and act and speak boldly in faith and give glory to God. Release faith by praising and thanking God and turn your circumstances around. The offering message and teaching to the parents during baby dedication is after the message.

James 5:1-8 We are in end-times. Why does Jesus delay? He is waiting for the harvest of the people of the earth and for the early and latter rains. Matt. 9:36-38 tells us that we need to pray for the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. I Tim. 2:1-4 God wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. There’s a harvest all around us. As things get worse, it is the best time to preach and share the Gospel. A pastor in financial crisis needs to use faith for a people miracle. Satan will try to get a pastor to focus on financial needs, rather than on the need to win the lost. Do we meet God’s needs? God needs a person to stand in the gap and pray. Mark 11:17 lets us know that we are to be a house of prayer for all nations. Is. 56:1-7 We must overcome the cultural differences and pray for and reach out to all nations. Start with prayer. The “pray” comes before the “go” and “pay”. Commit to pray for the nations.

Heb. 11:1, 6. The faith that pleases God is the life of faith. Pastor Dale tells about trying to please his grandfather in keeping his large garden weed-free. After about three years, he found that it is easier to please his grandfather and do a good job if he respected a weed-free garden. You must get a hold of respect of faith. Your life depends on faith. It does what nothing else can do. It is a substance; it’s real; it’s evidence of what you cannot see, and you can know when you do and do not have it; it’s a force, like gas in a car’s gas tank. We are designed to live by faith. How do you step out in faith? Step out on the Word. Choose the way of faith. Share what God is doing and spread faith. God is pleased when we move in faith. People need the ministry of faith more than they need money. We need an environment of respecting faith. When it’s a challenge of faith, you don’t need wisdom; you need to act in faith. Know when you need wisdom and when you should step out in faith. God’s power is conducted with faith.