Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): This is the Power Walk Ministries broadcast with Pastor Paul Cannings. Thanks for joining us today for an exciting and powerful series on relationships, marriage, and family. Today, Pastor Cannings begins volume two of this series based on the story of Abraham and Sarah and the life of Hagar. The series is titled "God Sees You."

What do you do when you're totally overwhelmed by life and at a loss for what your next step should be in life? Hagar, who found herself in just such a situation, is actually hearing from God. Here's Pastor Cannings now with principles from Genesis 16, which we can apply to our lives. Pastor.

Dr. Paul Cannings: In Genesis chapter 16, a familiar story, I want to teach some principles. In verse three, it says, "And Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram's wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife." Please underline "as his wife."

Verse five, "And Sarai said to Abram, 'May the wrong done to me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the Lord judge between you and me.'" Verse six, "And Abram to Sarai, 'Behold, your maid is in your power. I'm not doing this. Do to her what is good in your sight.'" So Sarai treated her harshly and she fled from her presence.

Look down with me to verse 13. Then she called, Hagar, the name of the Lord who spoke to her, "You are a God who sees." And she said, "Have I even remained alive here after seeing him?" Verse 17, "And Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart, 'Will a child be born to a man 100 years old? And will Sarah, who is 90 years old, bear a child?' God, I don't know what you're talking about."

When God speaks and you try to do what God says, but it doesn't turn out the way you want it to, how do we behave? I'll say it again. When God speaks and you read the Bible and you determinatively decide that you're going to do this Bible, but it doesn't turn out the way you expect it to turn out. In other words, if you do the Bible, our culture says you're going to be blessed in the city, blessed in the fields, blessed when you come and when you go.

But some people do what the Bible says, and it doesn't necessarily mean that because they go home to a husband that may not believe it, or to a wife that may not believe it, or to a confession you may not like. They may come home and tell you that years ago, while we were married, I got a son or a daughter that you don't know nothing about. That little money that you've been missing, that's where it's been going.

I can't help but tell you the truth. What happens when the truth comes out that there is somebody you never met somewhere around the world that belongs to your wife or your husband? What happens when God puts you in Hagar's situation? For years, people will study Abram and Sarai for good reasons. They would study that story about Abram and Sarai and that makes sense.

But have you ever looked at the life of Hagar? Because many times, relationships are destroyed or made because of Hagar. That's why they're destroyed or made. It is not always because of the Abram-Sarai and the growth process that they went through. One time they believed, and in another, Sarai laughed. Abraham laughed.

Abraham also had a struggle believing God could supply a trial when he is 99 years old and Sarai is 89. Sarai struggled too, and Abraham struggled. They came to a point of faith. It wasn't always there when he picked up the knife to kill his son Isaac. we rejoice at his level of faith, but he wasn't always there. He laughed sometimes. Sometimes he didn't believe. Sometimes he struggled.

As a result of that, we learn of his struggle here. When marital problems develop, how do we function when the situation a person may be in is a Hagar situation? Most times they happen when everybody is comfortable. I want you to see that in this story. You see, when everything gets caught up, it's a time in this story where Abraham had to go through a process.

Abraham did. He went from a land of Haran. He left from a land of Haran. It took him two calls. God had to call him twice before he left his father and moved into Canaan. Then he wandered for a while. He just wandered around in the wilderness, a nomadic society, a nomadic kind of living. He wandered from place to place to place.

But then he settled down. He finally got it settled down. He finally got his house—not a house, but a tent. He finally found a community he was going to be in, Canaan, and Abimelech not far away. He finally found this community he was going to settle in. Matter of fact, he ended up buried not too far from where he settled. And then this story erupted with Hagar.

Many times in our lives, the worst times in our Christian lives is when things are normal. They finally hit a normal zone. We don't hear from God the same way. We question God differently because we're now more resourceful than we've ever been. It's a pattern in the Bible. What I mean by a pattern is you go to Israel in the wilderness, coming out of Egypt.

They had too much Egypt on them, so they couldn't make it into the Promised Land. They had too much world on them. When he got rid of those who would listen to more Egypt than him—you know that from the way they worship a bull rather than God at the mountain—he sent a group of people into the Promised Land. But those group of people in the Promised Land, they ended up getting wealthy, milk and honey.

You see the same thing in Babylon. He couldn't get them to go back under Ezra. No. Nehemiah? No. Many of them stayed in Babylon because they built houses, just like Jeremiah said. They established themselves, just like Jeremiah said. He couldn't get them to do anything. Many times in our lives when a wreck starts, matter of fact, I raised my kids with this constant thing in their head: the worst time in your life is the best time in your life if you don't listen to God and keep your mind focused.

Because the best time in your life makes you want to come to comfortability. Relax. I'm in a zone. I've got it going on. The bills are paid. Everything is good. Everything is rocking. That's the time in your life you don't really need to listen to God. And God said, "I only settled you in the Promised Land to be useful, to be productive, not to be relaxed and enjoy the resources that I provided."

But that's exactly what Abraham does. But that only created a problem. The best time in our lives, if we turn God off, can be the worst times in our lives. You see a pattern for that in the Bible. But what you see now is this time where this whole story pops up because God is taking too long to answer the most critical thing this person wanted, and that was a child.

And that created a mess for a Hagar. And some people are Hagars. What I mean by that is you got involved with a married man and you became Hagar. These things repeat themselves because Satan has no new tricks. You got situations that happen where couples go outside the marriage. They go outside the marriage. They may not go outside the marriage and sleep with anybody.

They may go outside the marriage and just have emotional moments with other people, sharing their emotional struggles with other people, which is a form of emotional prostitution. You start checking the Bible out and you would see that many times when people do that, they technically disconnect from their wives or husbands because now somebody else is emotionally satisfying them.

And then this leads to emotional adultery. They dream of sleeping with that person. They dream of sleeping with that person. And the minute the Bible says a person undresses the other person and dreams of sleeping with them, the Bible says they already committed adultery in their heart. So there could be emotional adultery that a person commits. They don't want to get physical, but they're emotionally attached. And so comes Hagar.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Pastor Cannings. In loss and isolation, God is still in control and he will make a way for us. So let's also keep our mind focused on him and obey him as he leads. If you would, please take a moment to visit us online at powerwalkministries.org for our ministry resources.

One tool you'll find helpful is Pastor Cannings' book "Disciples in the Making." It will help you grow spiritually as you seek to handle relationships in a Christlike manner. Again, you'll find that at powerwalkministries.org. Also, friends, as a listener-supported broadcast, we'd like to ask your financial support. Would you prayerfully consider becoming a Power Walk partner today?

Dr. Paul Cannings: A few years ago, some friends of mine, some pastor friends came to me and challenged me to start Power Walk. And by faith, we stepped out, chose to start Power Walk Ministries. And yes, folks, God has grown it, he's developed it. And we'd love for you to look at our website at www.powerwalkministries.org to see all the things that we are seeking to do for the glory of God. Become our partner. Participate in what God is doing. I know God will bless you for your sacrifice.

Guest (Male): To make either a one-time or ongoing financial contribution, log onto powerwalkministries.org. That's powerwalkministries.org, or call us at 281-260-7402. That's 281-260-7402. Our mailing address is Power Walk Ministries, PO Box 920517, Houston, Texas 772092. Thank you for your support and prayers.

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. And now as we leave you, remember even during the most difficult times of our lives, God sees us and he's in perfect control of our situations. So seek his wisdom and strength every day.