Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): This is the Power Walk Ministries broadcast with author and speaker Reverend Paul Cannings. Thanks for joining us today as Reverend Cannings brings us the final message in this series, Experiencing God's Peace.

Pastor Cannings has reminded us of God's assurance of peace and Jesus's promise of His peace. In addition, as believers, we have the Holy Spirit of God living inside us, and we can truly experience all that we possibly need to live in a peaceful life. So, why is it we get so rattled so easily and shook up with life's trials? Encouraging us to apply these promises in our lives, here's Pastor Cannings now with the message, Preserve Peace. Let's listen.

Dr. Paul Cannings: Many times we make faith something that is only for those people who seem to have this strong leap of an ability to gain it, and I think it's just a misnomer. Many times we come to faith, and sometimes we mystify it. If you have faith you'll be healed. If you had faith you would not be broke. If you had faith you wouldn't be going through what you're going through right now. You would not be suffering like you are.

So, faith many times becomes this mystical thing where the person who jumps the highest gains the highest faith. When faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, faith is a very concrete process. It's a very objective process. It is not depending on our ability; it's depending on God's ability. That's what faith is all about. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

How can you jump on a plane and go to a game, never met the pilot, put a black seatbelt around your waist like that's going to make a whole lot of difference when you hit the ground at a thousand miles an hour, and fly off? You literally expect to be at that particular city to play in that particular game when you arrive. You have no knowledge as to whether or not you landed at the right airport, but you expect to see it.

What is it when it comes in that analogy, not saying that that is faith, even though it is a good analogy to faith? When it comes to God we have all these excuses. That's why Christ is saying, because we do this all the time, we pump gas, we never see the gas. We may smell it, but we look at the needle and we drive off. We have direct deposit, and we go get thirty-year mortgages. Who promised us a job for thirty years?

We do these different things and we function in this way because that's what our culture and that's how things are working. People in different parts of agrarian societies that are farmers, they plant things and trust the Lord for the rain to come, and expect that crop to produce a certain thing. They want their animals to produce another animal. The animal has to be fertile for that to happen.

So, we are constantly living on the activity of God and trusting His activity every day. When He's saying to us, "What is it that I've ever said that I don't do? I am the truth. It's not that I am going to be the truth; I am the truth." And in Hebrews chapter six, verse eighteen, God does not lie. Jesus, by His very nature, is the truth.

So, He comes to them in order for them to sustain the peace He's telling them they're going to have. In other words, He's saying, "I gave you peace, not you have to gain it. You just have to allow it to develop in your life, like we did yesterday by walking in His word, by trusting Him, by praying to Him, believing and holding on to Him." But it comes down to this whole thing of how do I sustain it? The only way He's saying that we can sustain it is when we walk by faith. That's the only way we can sustain it.

That's the issue. How does that work is the issue. Because He's telling them peace is not dependent on circumstances. You're going to have trials. You're going to have problems. John 16:33, "You will have tribulation." He's telling us the same thing. Wear an armor. You're going to have Satan throwing darts at you.

So, peace can't be circumstances. It can't be how wonderful life is. We can spend all of our time trying to get into our comfort zone so we have peace. That is not the peace He gifts to us because He says, "I don't give you peace like the world gives you peace," in John chapter 14, verse 27. "I didn't give you peace like the world."

So, the world cannot provide us peace; only He can provide us peace. When He provides us peace at the point of salvation, because peace is the Holy Spirit, it's not a feeling. We've dealt with all that. How do we protect that peace from ever leaving us? He tells them that because they're going to have a crazy life. For these disciples in verse 28, He says, "You have heard how I have said unto you, I go away and I come again unto you. If you love me, you would rejoice. You'll be glad I'm leaving because I said I go unto the Father, for my Father is greater than I."

"And now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it come to pass, you might believe." Here is several different things that when the world is going crazy, life is crazy, that can allow us to sustain peace. Here's the first thing we find. He says, "You have heard that I have said." What is He saying with that?

Once and for all, what He is saying He's not needing to change because this is the truth. I don't need to add to God's word. I don't need to go find a new story in God's word. I don't need to add third Corinthians in order for these new times that we're facing. I need a new fresh word from God because these are difficult times and these are all kinds of issues that are taking place, and the Bible was written thousands of years ago, so we need something fresh.

No, we don't. We don't need these fresh prophecies to come up and say, "Oh yes, here is a new thing that God just said to me this morning." No, He's not saying that. He is saying, "What I've said to you," second Peter chapter one, verse three through four, "I've given you everything you need for life and godliness, everything."

He's going to tell the disciples in John chapter 17 that what you are saying, everybody can find a way to live their lives on, and they don't need to alter anything in order to achieve whatever they face in this life. From verse 17 all the way through verse 24, He tells them that. So, there's no need for a new word. He even tells a pastor that in second Timothy chapter three, verse 17, "The word of God is adequate to equip the man of God for every good work."

So, there's no new word to come. So, what He's saying to them, there's no need to add to it, there's no need to take from it. It's done. So, when we come to God's word, we must see it as sufficient. It does not wither away. It stays fervent, alive. They've burned the Bible a bunch of times, and it's still around as the best seller.

Now, here's the next thing. He says, "I'm going away. I'm not coming back until the rapture, but I'm letting you see that I'm going away. So, when I'm telling you I'm coming again, you have no questions whatsoever that I'm coming again because you saw me leave. So, therefore, there's no question that I got up from the ground. So now when you see me go to heaven, there's no question that I rose from the dead and I am ascending to the Father. There's no issues there."

So, He's saying that is something that is continually taking place. So, when I'm saying to you that I'm coming again, you have no need to worry. So, folks, here's the second thing He's saying to us. Christ is coming again, and we're going to go see Him. So, if He doesn't come before I go to see Him, then when I face death, He says I have life so I never face separation from God, so I'm going to be in heaven.

Also, if I'm here when He comes back, there is no reason for me to ever doubt that He's coming back because He walked on earth. He could have gone to Peter's house and knocked on the door, and there is Jesus. You could go to Mary and Martha's house and knock on the door, and there is Jesus. There is no question that He walked on earth. Nobody debates that.

The issue is the resurrection, and He's made sure there are hundreds of witnesses that say the resurrection took place. So, if a person was to say to me, "How do you know the resurrection took place?" "How do you know Abraham Lincoln got shot? You believe somebody said that." "How do you know that Martin Luther King got shot? You believe somebody said that."

"How do you know the framers of the Constitution actually wrote what you're reading as the Constitution? You believe somebody said that, and you are directed in the Constitution, or wherever country you're living in, you're directed by what somebody did hundreds of years ago that you never saw them do, but you believe it." This whole issue, like I'm saying, is an analogy that we function on every day.

So, Jesus Christ is saying, "We are doing that. Why can't we do that for Him?" Here's the next thing He's saying in this passage of scripture that solidifies our faith when it wants to go in all kinds of directions. Here is the righteous breastplate that keeps us with the shield of faith. In order for us to keep the shield up, the shield of faith, so that nothing comes in and destroys our commitment to God, so that we walk in the shoes of peace, we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, and the peace of God never leaves us, we have to commit first, as we dealt with yesterday, to walk in His word.

When we walk in His word, when we put on the breastplate, we can raise the shield because we have on the belt of truth. Who's the truth? The Spirit is the Spirit of truth. He's not a happy feeling. He is truth. When we take the word of God into real-life situations and we could see how to apply it, we are in the truth. The truth is being able to see how the word of God relates in real-life situations. That's why it's the truth.

When we are functioning in the truth, we're functioning in the power of the Holy Spirit. And when you function in the power of the Holy Spirit, He brings us joy first, before He brings us happiness. Now, here's the key. The next step to this that we must recognize, He says in verse 15, "If you love me, keep my commandments." He didn't say just obey them; He says keep them.

In other words, when your heart makes you want to let go of them, you just trust that what you are believing in is truth, and you just remain in it. Just keep doing what it says, just remain in it. Don't let your heart move you in all kind of directions. And when you do that, you're demonstrating that you love me. And in chapter 15 He says, "As the Father had loved me, so I have loved you, continue in my love. I end up loving you."

When you choose to love me, I love you. You are protected. I love you to where I preserve you. I'm constantly showering blessings on you when you come to me in prayer because first John, same writer, verse 21 through 24, "You're not walking away from me." I can then answer the prayers, like He says in John chapter 15, verse seven. He says, "If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you."

Because you abide in me, you're bearing fruit. I'm loving on you. Because you're obeying God's word and you're keeping your heart in the processes that I'm leading you to, He says, "Then we become friends." So, since we become friends, I'll deliver to you whatever you want to know. I'll remind you of the word of God. I will guide you into truth. I'll protect you because you are now functioning as my friend. Faith preserves His peace. No matter what we are facing in this life, there's no need to doubt because faith removes all doubt and it preserves peace.

I pray that this series has touched your heart. I pray that no matter what you face, the peace of God will rule as Colossians chapter three, verse 15, rule your heart like a referee. No matter how big, mighty the players are, this young person, senior person, may not be as muscular, but they blow the whistle. I pray that the peace of God will rule your heart and keep your mind in Christ Jesus. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Dr. Cannings. Friends, just because these promises are there in scripture, they will not automatically inundate our lives. We have to make the choice to believe them in our hearts and ask the Holy Spirit to remove our doubts and preserve His peace in us. Please visit us online at powerwalkministries.org or call us at 281-260-7402.

Dr. Paul Cannings: One of the hardest things in ministry is not actually doing ministry when God has blessed you to be this equipped, but it's to get the resources to get it done. Oh, folks, that's the hardest. We've stepped out in faith because we believe that. But we pray that God will touch your heart to partnership with us, and you can do that simply by going to our website. It's a secure website. Press the donate button, and on that button, you will be able to become a partner with us. And we will seek to bless you for being a blessing to us. I pray that God will move on your heart to be our partner. God bless you.

Guest (Male): We'd love to hear from you. And if you live in the Houston area or you're planning a visit, please join Reverend Cannings at Living Word Fellowship Church this Sunday. For church location and service times, visit lwfellowshipchurch.org. And now remember, a practical way to experience God's peace is to know God's promises about peace. Remind yourself about them when doubts come and choose to believe them wholeheartedly, regardless of your circumstances.