Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Thanks for tuning in to join us on this broadcast of Power Walk Ministries. "Don't Run Aimlessly" is the current series being taught by our founder and president, Reverend Paul Cannings. Scripture compares life to a vapor; it's so brief. We're born one day and, before we know it, life slips by all too quickly.

So how can we live purposefully and how can we make it count? Helping us understand what life is all about through the life of Abraham, here's Dr. Cannings now with the message, "The Life."

Dr. Paul Cannings: One of the things that drive me crazy about vacations is that you always wish you had more time. That last day or so you really get into it and then money runs out. Money tells you how long the vacation is going to be, or job schedules, either one. I love to go and relax on a beach and just enjoy the cool air in the evenings. That's like heaven to me. And have a great meal and just sit there and enjoy the breeze. I love that, but it always runs out. The beds are made for you, the food, everybody's trying to be nice to you, and you got to go back home.

Sometimes when I look at life, I see that we are so focused many times on what we can enjoy and what we can gain and what we can accomplish, and we believe that's life. Life is not so temporal. Life is about legacy, life is about who we love, life is about how we invested in it as a husband or a wife to children, or husband or wife to each other, or grandchildren that come along. Life is about what's shared, not what's taken. Life is about how we can mature through time so that we are wiser because we've come to see life from the vantage point of God as we learn more scripture, as we walk in him more. We're now seeing through his eyes, not our own.

So when we are trying to live this life, we're really not, because that life constantly requires money. That life constantly requires making bad decisions to achieve a goal that when you get there moves down the road, and you're constantly going after this thing that keeps moving down the road, moving down the road. And you're chasing, chasing, chasing, thinking, "I got to get a promotion, I got to work harder, be at the office longer because I want to stay in this project, I want to be on this team, I want to be a great contributor to the team." And so what happens now? I'm a provider, but I'm not a husband. I'm a person who is good at taking care of the family, but I'm not there to raise the kids.

So what did I accomplish? Kids that are struggling, kids that are fighting over drugs, kids that don't believe they have a relationship with their father, even though he's the father and he pays the bills. So what do we achieve? Nothing. We gained the world, but we lost our soul. When we chase what Satan puts in front of us like bait on a hook in front of a fish, we end up becoming fish fry because we chase it rather than like Abraham giving it all up and gaining it.

And so we find here in Romans chapter 4 and verse 20, I want us to walk through this because it's more about the journey of his life that told his life, as we may think it told his life. He had a life in Haran. Abraham loved his dad. God told him to leave and Abraham stuck around because of his dad. So it's not like Abraham just, "Oh yeah, you know, this is the thing, let me go." No, Abraham grew this way. Abraham went from all that you see in his life to raising a knife to kill his own son, the one son that God gave him after 25 years. That was a journey that Abraham went through.

Abraham struggled with this whole thing and went to Hagar and all these different things, but in the process of life because he kept doing what God says, we have a giant of a person who's the one that planted in the spot where the new heavens and the new Jerusalem will be. He is the one that planted that and established the nation that God will continue on forever. So understand, it may seem like this guy is moving everywhere. He's rich and got a lot of stuff. No, but he's following God and this life doesn't end. It continues on.

We are the children of Abraham because he walked by faith and not by sight. There was no law. Moses wrote this after Abraham was around, so the Pentateuch didn't exist. He just believed in what God said and trusted it and he gained a life he never would have dreamed he would have because he is the mark in human history. But to human beings, he's just a guy walking around here that's got a lot of money. From Pharaoh's perspective, he's got a lot of stuff and a pretty wife. That's from a human perspective for Abraham. He's not like there's social media and he's the star on social media and all this other stuff. He's a nomadic man, he's moving around. But Abraham is a man in human history that would play out eternally because he gained his life.

And this is the steps that led to that experience. We find here in verse 20. Here's the first word: he staggered not. He staggered not. He did not let the struggles and the pain of life make him become so drunk with the pain of life that he walked away from God. He staggered not. He didn't waver, he didn't vacillate because of circumstances. He's talking about belief, he's talking about faith now, he's talking about what the word of God is saying to Abraham and what he's going to do with Abraham. Abraham may have gone into Hagar, but he still expected kids from Sarah because God said he's going to do that.

He understood when he raised the issue with Eliezer, God says, "I'm this is what I'm going to do now. Let me break down for you what I'm going to do and how this is going to take place all the way into Egypt." I know you can't see it, but you need to have this conviction as you walk with this so we talk about that faith. You can't see all the way to Egypt, 400 years in Egypt. None of that stuff God is saying to him he ever saw physically. There's no way that it made a whole bunch of sense to Abraham other than God said it's going to happen so I got to keep wandering around here and I can't pick Eliezer.

So he didn't stagger in the sense that what God said to him, he did not go off course with that. His fact that he stayed in Canaan is evidence he didn't go off course. He stayed there. He is looking every day there. Faith, when it comes to the belief system, he still stayed out there expecting it to happen and as a result of that, the Bible is saying he didn't stagger. So there's two things here. One, circumstances could make us drunk with fear. I constantly challenge people, okay, yes, I get it that we need to listen because 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 13 says I must do what authority says, I must do what God put people in authority and positions of authority, I'm supposed to submit to their leadership and follow them. And the Bible is telling me to listen to them so I did.

But I'm not expecting them to keep me safe. What I'm expecting is God to keep me safe because I'm obeying God so I stay safe. That's what faith is. Faith is when God speaks it, I surrender, I'm deeply committed, I'm steadfast in what he said, and I'm not going to go in a different direction because that's what he said. That's the balance that God is talking about. The balance he's talking about is that Abraham looks at his wife and he goes, "She is older, I'm older, how can a kid come out of this?" I get that, but at the same time, he said this is going to happen so I'm staying out here in Canaan. I'm walking around here and I'm going to do what he told me to do as I take care of my flock and manage my business. I'm going to trust him whenever he's ready to get it done. He's doing both. He's looking at it for what it is and he's doing what God says and he's not going back to Haran because God is going to get this thing done here where he told me to go.

That's what he's saying. We sometimes allow these situations to get us so with stress, anxiety, overwhelmed with, "Yeah, man, they're talking about my heart is this way, they're talking about my sugar diabetes is this way, they're talking about my husband could be doing this, my wife could be doing this," and the situations are so dragging us down we can't experience the life God is trying to use this trial to mature us to go to. In James chapter 1 he says, "I understand you have trials," because they were having all kinds of issues, making them angry, making them frustrated, giving up on God, all kinds of stuff in the book of James. But he says, "I allowed all those things to happen because I have a crown for you." James chapter 1 verse 12. Peter, who had to learn this the hard way, in 1 Peter chapter 1 he says, "This way I'm refined like pure gold. I come out better. I'm more valuable to God when I stay the course when I'm experiencing the life that God has for me."

He said I didn't stagger. I came out better. So he didn't let the situation make him stagger, meaning waver. Why? It brings out this second thing: doubt. The Bible says in James chapter 1, when a person doubts they can't expect God to do anything because the person has to walk by faith and not by sight because that's what he rewards. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6. That's it, period, done. Because my word, it does not come back void. So if you want this life and the Holy Spirit came for one major focus, and that is to guide us into truth because truth produces the life, which is the fruit, the joy, the peace, the longsuffering, the gentleness, all these different things that come out of our character so we become more like Christ. And Peter would say in 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 9 to 11, now we can see our way through anything because we allow the Spirit to have his full work. So the life I now live, I live in Christ who is God. Colossians chapter 3.

That's what their focus is. That's why God will put us in situations to drive us to faith, put us in situations to drive us to function based on his word, because that's the victory because it drives the Spirit of God through us. Jesus is the way, salvation, the truth, the Holy Spirit moving to produce life and life abundantly that Christ came to forgive us so that when we do that, we become friends of God. And we need to focus on life and the one thing we cannot let overwhelm us is the struggles of life that make us stagger in our faith.

Unbelief is sneaky. What do I mean by sneaky? Is that many times we don't think that we're not believing but we're not believing. "Oh, you know, I need to read the scriptures. I haven't looked at it in a while." But we're looking at 40 hours of television. "Oh yeah, you know, my prayer life. I really need to get focused on my prayer life." Why we have to think through a prayer life? You ever saw a person who's lost and not interested in talking to people to find out what they need to do? That's a person that is aimless. They know they're lost and not looking for any kind of help, not doing anything with a GPS system or anything. They're just walking around saying, "I'm going to get it." They're going to waste a lot of time.

Folks, when we are really seeking God and wanting to walk with God, the GPS, the word of God, becomes meaningful. That's why he says if you seek me, you'll find me. Prayer life? Paul says I prayed without ceasing. Who's the person saying that? Whip, 39 lashes five times, shipwrecked a bunch of times, in jail a bunch of times, got to go to Gentiles and figure out how you talk about an unknown God. What does that make you do? Pray.

So we always know when unbelief sneaks in because we start to function in unbelief. There's no conviction, there's no surrender, there's no steadfastness. We're not convicted about what God is saying so I got to get up and do what he's saying. And that life works itself out because I'm working out my salvation in fear and trembling. Now, you know, these people are crazy at work. They didn't move me to pray. They didn't move me to seek wisdom as to how I deal with it. Why? Unbelief snuck in and I've drifted from God because I'm not holding to the faith. The life that Christ has for me becomes something that I'm missing and I go to church and what's the big deal? Okay, I'm going. No, David was a man after God's own heart. He says, "I'm like a deer panting for water, my soul pants for thee, O God. I can't wait to go to the temple of God and to worship him." When he drifted, everything went chaotic because he was no longer seeking God. The life that we think we're after is a life we can miss. That's why it's important to not stagger in unbelief. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Dr. Cannings. It's so easy even as a committed believer to be aimless, isn't it? As we follow plans and programs, attend conferences, with little application of all that we acquire. Friends, let's love God from the heart and seek his wisdom to really live the life that he has intended for us.

For a copy of this message series, please visit us online at powerwalkministries.org. That's powerwalkministries.org. You're welcome to call us as well at 281-260-7402. That's 281-260-7402.

Dr. Paul Cannings: I praise God that this ministry has blessed many lives. It encourages us to keep going. It's a partnership with this ministry by encouraging other people to come and listen to us, by getting on our website, making purchases, by supporting our ministry. And I guarantee you it will go to the better use of God's kingdom resources to touch lives. That is our heart, because of what we felt God was calling us to is to touch lives. Share the word, pass it on, and pray for us regularly. God bless.

Guest (Male): And if you live in the Houston area and you don't have a church home, you're welcome to visit Reverend Cannings and his congregation at Living Word Fellowship Church. It's located at 7350 TC Jester Boulevard in Houston.

Once again, our web address is powerwalkministries.org. Our mailing address is PO Box 920517, Houston, Texas 77092. And remember, life is a precious gift that God has given us. May we take it seriously and consider the choices and decisions we make.