Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us here on Power Walk. Folks, we're excited today because even with all the turmoil and heartbreaking news from all around the world, we do not have to go through life alone or be anxious about it. Today, Pastor Paul Cannings urges us to look to God and challenges us to believe on God's word and see the difference this will make in our lives.

Pastor Cannings is the founder and president of Power Walk Ministries, as well as senior pastor of Living Word Fellowship Church in Houston, Texas. Let's listen to him now.

Dr. Paul Cannings: Many times, people have to see to believe. It could be a credible person that they know will tell them the truth and they say, "Okay, that's... I can't believe that one, that somebody actually shot the ball from half court and hit it without using the backboard. No, I have to see that for myself." Jesus Christ walking on earth raised the sick, a dead girl back to life, and Lazarus after four days. And then He raised Lazarus from the dead. Jesus Christ did these miraculous things.

Now Jesus Christ tells them, "Folks, I'm going to die, but on the third day, I'm going to raise from the dead." Okay, they messed up at the crucifixion, they ran off. But you don't find them standing at the tomb saying, "Okay, we messed up, we ran off. He told us all these things. We've got the teaching, we heard it. Okay, now let's stand at the tomb and see it." No, they don't. And when they are told by Mary Magdalene, then they have to run down for themselves and look inside, and they leave bewildered.

How could they leave bewildered? Many times, Jesus Christ would say miraculous things, but do we really believe it? This moves our lives from the mundane to a powerful life of expectation that Christ will do these powerful things in marriages, in dealing with issues that are just overwhelming. When you're dealing with situations where you just don't see a way through them or out of them, many times it drives us to live a life where we just don't believe, even though we are committed to walk with God, committed to do the things of God.

But do we believe in situations like that, that the Christ we serve has the power to function that way, because that's what drives the level of our faith? Let's just examine this in how, in not seeing, we still can believe. There are several things we must remember in this process. One of the things that God uses to keep us focused is the issue of endurance. I really don't like the process to be honest with you, but the process He is saying is critical to the life of a believer.

Why is that? And endurance must have its perfect work. In other words, when he talks about endurance having its perfect work, what he is actually saying is until everything he is saying is accomplished in the process of endurance, then endurance is not done. He says right there in James chapter 1, verse 3, endurance must have its perfect work. So it's kind of like a person who's running. They're running for the marathon in the Olympics, and they're running and they're running.

Matter of fact, I tease my niece. She goes on these 26-mile marathons, and she would run them. I would tease her and say, "You have a car." In order to get ready for the 26-mile marathon, she runs five miles here, she runs ten miles there, because it is not so much that she ran the 26 miles, it's that she could endure the rain sometimes that's falling. She says, "Oh no, Uncle Paul, it's fun, I enjoy doing it." A lot of times because I'm properly trained, it's not as hard on my body. She can endure that process because she endured the smaller runs.

The problem in the book of Hebrews chapter 10 is that when the trials came, they did not let the process of endurance have its perfect work. How do you have this perfect work when you don't feel like that endurance process? Let's face it. How many of us just go, "Okay God, keep this trial going forever, it's okay"? No, we want it to end. So what keeps us going through this process is confidence. That's what he's going to tell them.

He says in verse 35 of Hebrews chapter 10, "Therefore do not throw away your confidence which has a great reward, for you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised." What was promised? Not necessarily the marriage would be better or the kid will call or the depression would go away or you'll be healed from an illness. The word "promise," we have to look at what that word means before we automatically think that's where it's heading.

In this process, what we end up lacking is confidence, boldness, and conviction. What he is saying in this is that we can't just endure a process by saying, "Okay, I'm going to keep trying to do the right thing." No. We endure a process by deciding, what is God telling me to do when this situation doesn't change relative to that situation? I can continue to serve God, I can continue to give to God, I continue to obey God in the other areas of my life, but he's saying no, you have to also obey me relative to that particular issue in your life.

Let's just pick up one: Hosea and Gomer. Like we talked about yesterday. How do you endure that? You have a wife, and it's a small village. So you're walking among people that you have to prophesy to. In other words, you still have to do ministry. And here you are, this preacher whose wife is wayward. She's being used by all these men that you're looking at. These are villages that are not very large at all. And then you have to raise the kids, and you're doing it by yourself.

Now God is telling you what to do relative to your wife, what to do relative to your children. When we come to Scripture, what he's saying is we have to pick up the Scriptures that are relevant to the situation we are experiencing. When we pick up the Scriptures relevant to the situation we are facing, then we have to have confidence that the Scriptures we picked up will work. We can't throw away the confidence. We can't say, "Man, I've been praying for this for a long time, what's the point?"

Sometimes we come there and God is saying no, you're looking at the wrong thing. The focus and emphasis and boldness attached to what is taking place has to do with the confidence that God's word does not return void. And if I keep doing His word relative to what He's saying, God will provide a way out of no way. Either He will heal the marriage or He will perfect me in my trial so that no matter what the other person does, it doesn't steal my peace, doesn't steal my joy, doesn't stop me from being kind, doesn't stop me from being gentle, doesn't stop me from doing the things that God has called me to do. It doesn't stop me.

Nothing they do could ever interfere with the powerful movement of the Holy Spirit inside of me. Nothing. Because He who is in me is greater. I'm more than a conqueror through Christ. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. "All things" meaning I've come to a point like Paul would say, right there in Philippians, when he's talking about these all things. We have to remember that this is the person who said, "For me to live is Christ, to die is gain." This is the person in chapter one who says, "I've looked forward to just doing the things that God has called me to do with excellence and in wisdom and in knowledge."

This is the person who in chapter three says, "I count everything rubbish for the sake of the gospel so I can live in the resurrection power and that's why I press towards the mark." How many trials did Paul have? How much difficulty he has? The Bible is saying it will not go away. In Acts chapter nine, he says, "Your ministry will be full of trials, it's not going anywhere." He dies with his head being cut off. So when you look at Paul's life, the trials never ended. But Paul got to the point in his life where it didn't matter if it ended. It mattered that it led him to experience Christ all the more.

Only because Paul never let the trials throw away his confidence that the word is true. It's powerful, it's productive. And even though I can't see the end to what I'm doing, I know the person who has no end can guide me past it. This is why seeing can't be believing; believing is seeing. Where do you get that from? Let's take a look at Ephesians chapter 1. Believing is actually seeing. Seeing many times will not lead to believing.

First thing we have to look at in Ephesians chapter 1 is the fact that, that's why I kept mentioning prayer, verse 16: "Do not cease giving thanks while making mention of you in my prayers." In verse 17 he says, "That God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom." This is the first thing we have to do. It is taking the word of God and applying it to real-life situations. That's what we have to do. How do I take this Bible and make it work in the areas of my life that I am dealing with?

That process is wisdom that we have to pray for. That's why prayer bathes this. Then he says, revelation of the knowledge. So I come to a point where I can now experience how the knowledge of God works into the future. So I'm not just seeing the situation I'm in. That's why my hope gets strong and confidence gets high, because now I can see it into the future because God opens up my eyes because the Holy Spirit came to illuminate. He came to help me to see the word of God as it relates to the future.

And it gets more powerful. "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened." Love that. When life gets dark sometimes, our hearts feel overwhelmed. And he says all of a sudden you will feel this enlightenment where instead of feeling this heaviness, you feel like this load has been cast and now you walk, First Peter chapter five, in the power of the Holy Spirit. I can now see how I can make my way through it. Second Peter chapter one says I move from being short-sighted to now being able to see, from verse 3 through verse 11.

So now I can see, I can understand, "Okay, this is what I do." Now I'm more focused on the path through it than the problem in it. Then he says, this leads to a hope. I now can expect this is going to work out. Daniel expected the lions to not touch him. Abraham walked and he said, "In hope against hope, in expectation against the normal human expectation," in Romans chapter 4, verse 18. I'm not just walking, hoping and believing and trusting, no. I expect it.

I live with the confidence that it's going to happen. So now I'm living in the power of the Holy Spirit as he's exposed that to us in chapter three. This is the process that we see in the people we call great men and women of the Bible. Here is Anna. Anna is believing for the Messiah, so she's spending all her life as a widow in the temple expecting to see Jesus come through. And when she sees Him, nobody else sees Him outside of Simeon. They can't see that the Messiah has come; they've been waiting for 400 years for this Messiah. And they can't see it. She could see it because she lived with the expectation that it would happen. Believing is seeing, but seeing will sometimes cut out believing. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): Amen. What a great reminder. Thanks Dr. Cannings. Yes, the God of Abraham is the same God for us today, and the Bible is just as relevant now as it was for the disciples who walked with Jesus. Now, if you'd like to obtain a copy of this message series, then please do so online at powerwalkministries.org. That's powerwalkministries.org. You can also reach us at 281-260-7402. That's 281-260-7402.

Dr. Paul Cannings: We're really excited about this year because there's so much that's been accomplished in ministering to the pastors and leaders, and by God's grace we've been able to extend our radio ministry now and God has blessed us to now have a podcast. We're excited about what God has done in expanding and developing what He wants to do in Power Walk Ministries. We're able to establish relationships now back into Kenya.

It's because of your support. Because many of you have prayed for us, and we're praying that you will bless this ministry to reach its year-end goal of $250,000. And I pray that you'll become a part of what Power Walk Ministries is doing, not just on radio but through the small-medium-sized churches whether they're in America, in the Caribbean, or in Africa. Lives are touched, families are touched, communities are impacted, and churches are becoming better and more efficient for God's glory.

So we are excited that you will be a part of powerwalkministries.org. There you will see a good exposure to a lot of the things that we're doing and as well give you a chance to donate to Power Walk Ministries. We look forward to you being a part of our year-end goal. Thank you so much for listening. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): You can make a contribution by calling us at 281-260-7402. That's 281-260-7402. Or visit us online at powerwalkministries.org. You can also mail a donation to P.O. Box 920517, Houston, Texas 77092. Your gifts are tax-deductible, and we really appreciate your support. Remember, God has all the power, resources, and wisdom to handle our life situations.