Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us on today’s broadcast of Power Walk. God reigns supreme. That’s the name of our current series being taught by our founder and president, Dr. Paul Cannings. To help us on our ministry vision and to offset airtime costs for these broadcasts, we ask you to make a one-time or ongoing monthly financial contribution. You can do so online at powerwalkministries.org or call us at 281-260-7402. Thank you for your partnership. And now our lesson today is titled, Learn to Rest, and it’s based on Psalm 86, where we see David focused on God in the midst of a tumultuous time in his life.

Dr. Paul Cannings: There are times in my life when it’s hard to rest. It’s hard to rest, meaning there’s so much going on, you feel this impulsive need to respond to it, adjust to it, speak into it, work through it, press through it. Many times, all you need to do is rest.

Resting in God many times is like resting in an airplane when there’s turbulence. You can’t fly it. You can’t land it. A seatbelt is really not going to make a big difference if you take a nosedive. There’s nothing you could do, and now he’s saying rest. Rest? Could you give me a parachute right about now? Maybe I can become like one of these super characters and get some wings or something. No, none of that exists. They’re so confident they’re going to land, there’s no parachute under the seat. They believe that this aircraft, this commercial aircraft, is going to land. They don’t give you anything. You’re going down if it’s going to go down. That’s literally the confidence they express in their commercial airline. How do you rest in those situations?

Sometimes standing next to the bed of people I love in my family and watching them go through stuff, and you’re wondering why. I know this person. They really love you. Why? Why are you allowing this right now? It’s sometimes hard to rest in God. You want to do something, especially the way I was raised. You address it. You fix it. I was raised a certain way to be assertive about things and not sit back and procrastinate. I’ve heard it all: what your hands find to do, do it with all your might. That’s how my parents would drive us. So even in the way I was raised, resting is not always easy.

How did David rest when his enemies are right there? They are there. David is saying I’m poor. I don’t have the equipment and the ability to go fight against these folks. David is literally saying, God, in the midst of watching them, I’m bowing down to you in verse one. Oh Lord, he repeats oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, so many times in this chapter of Psalm that you see he is literally keeping God high but reminding himself of who God is and begging God to be the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords that He is. He’s saying I am poor and needy. Poor here means I’m suffering a massive deficit here.

This is not a person who just grabbed a few farmers and put them on a donkey and brought them out for war. This guy is really a warrior in front of me. This person is a seasoned warrior. David knows this. He’s been fighting wars. He says, no, this is serious up in here. Then you look at the fact that David is looking around him and, yeah, these guys are strong and mighty. No, this God I’m poor, I’m in deficit, I’m needy, I lack a lot of stuff. So You’re going to have to be the one who preserves my life. I’m going to commit to holiness as we’ve been discussing this week. My relationship with God is critical when it comes to prayer. The effective fervent prayer of the righteous avails much. David gets that.

Psalm 23, the book of Psalm, is full of prayers. David is teaching us how often he prayed and the way and manner in which he prayed. He’s saying, yes God, do I need mercy? Oh yeah, I’ve done some wicked evil things. Do I need mercy? I need a plenty of mercy. David understands all of this. David is coming to God and saying, I can’t make this enemy less powerful, less equipped. He’s brought out a military, fast horses and possibly chariots and weapons like arrows that could get well up in ahead of them, so the war is not as personal with a sword. You don’t know all the equipment this person had. David is going wow, wow, wow, You’re saying I must rest.

David put together a prayer we talked about yesterday, and his prayer transitions here in verse seven into a mindset that leads to resting in God. Resting doesn’t mean there’s not a lion around you. Nowhere in the Bible when Daniel’s in the lions' den does it ever say the lions went to sleep and took a nap because God is not going to let them bite him. No, the lions never says that. Could you imagine listening to hungry lions? You know how hungry they were when his enemies were thrown into that place where Daniel was? They were gone before they hit the ground. Those hungry lions are around him all night long.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fire, the fire was it consumed the people that developed it. That’s how hot it was. It didn’t say that it wasn’t hot, it just didn’t burn them. You look at the situation that surrounds the person. If the situation surrounding the person causes them to be affected on the inside, then we’ve got an impactful problem that could affect how they pray. Those people didn’t have circumstances that were friendly. What they had were some ugly circumstances.

Paul will tell us in the point of house arrest: be anxious for nothing. Not when he is having a good old time on a ship and sailing to Rome maybe and there was no gale. No, Paul is talking about in house arrest people are trying to kill him. People are searching him out to slaughter Paul. They hated him for what Paul was doing against the Jewish structure with these Christians, and they wanted to take him out. Now he’s under house arrest. They finally got him under house arrest and they’re trying to get that house arrest to turn into death. Paul is writing: be anxious for nothing. Paul, you’ve lost your mind now. No, let your anxiety be filled with prayer.

Paul is talking about what? Supplicate before God and rejoice. He’s talking about resting. The word rejoice literally means to have an attitude that is irrelevant to what you’re dealing with. It’s this carefree attitude. That’s what rejoice means. I’m going to function carefree, and Paul repeats it: rejoice, and again I say act carefree. I’m asking you to be anxious for nothing. This resting is not in the perfect situations. Resting is in the worst, that I choose to trust God this way because it’s a huge act of faith. Huge act of surrender and trust. That’s what you find here in this Psalm, in Psalm 86. It’s an act of full surrender and trust. That’s why in verse four he would say, rejoice the soul of thy servant, for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. I’m going to be carefree.

In verse seven he says, in the day of my trouble, in the day of my distress, that’s what he’s talking about. In the day when I have no hope, in the day when the times are so difficult, if I look at the circumstances, I wouldn’t be able to sustain my life, my breath. He says, I call on thee. Wait a minute. On one hand he says, give ear to me, I’m commanding you to give ear to me. On this one, he is saying I call on you. As a matter of fact, now because the troubles are high, my voice is raised.

Instead of fighting the trouble, I’m going to get more vocal in the manner in which I address you. I’m not going to stop hollering to you. I’ve been supplicating, now I’m hollering. That’s what he says because supplicate means to cry, to be on my chest, to just rest in God while I am imploring and pleading with Him. But "call" here means I’m loud now. I’m taking it to a whole other level.

Resting in the Bible literally means I am so trusting God, I am slowly losing myself into all that He is. I am no longer cognizant of any ability within myself to ever do anything to fix anything that I’m faced with. The only ability I have is His. He who is in me is greater. I can do all things through Christ. Same book in Philippians that says rejoice. Same thing that would say I press towards the mark of the high calling so he could perfect me. I’ve learned in hard times of my life that I’d rather experience the power of the resurrection in the sufferings of Christ. I’m done. I’ve so denied myself. For me to live is Christ, to die is gain. I no longer live, it is Christ that lives in me. I call upon thee, and I know as a fact that you will have a heartfelt response towards me. That’s what that word means.

This is why he’s going to go on in verse eight to say, among the gods there is none like thee, oh Lord, neither are there works like unto thy works. Mercy he talks about in verse five, loving kindness. God, because of who You are, I can rest. Not because of anything I’ve earned, not because of anything I deserve, not because of the fact that You call me the person who’s going to take over kingship. No, no, no, this is simply because of who You are.

We could rest when the doctor says time for surgery, you’re going to put you under anesthesia, full anesthesia. We rest. We believe in the ability of the doctor. People put investments in. There’s no guarantee that the stock market wouldn’t crash. There’s no guarantee, but people rest. Please understand, folks, we rest because of what we believe or who we believe in.

God is saying, well I’m God, I’m Lord, I’m King of Kings. Who is before me? Who is after me? I am the one who came and died for you when you weren’t seeking me. I am the one that when you become totally unconscious for how many hours you choose to sleep, I wake you up. I’m the one who prepares a place for you when that time comes and blesses you if you’re faithful in serving, to put on a crown on you and a white gown on you and give you a place, and I multiply your treasure in heaven because you invested in my kingdom. I’m the one that can sustain this earth that spins out into space. I’m the one that sends the rain and stops it.

In the days of trouble and distress and pain and hardship, let our prayer, our trust in God, lead us to rest. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): Amen, Pastor Cannings. Let your anxieties be filled with prayer. What a great example David is, praising God, remembering various characteristics about God, and rejoicing in who He is, rather than focusing on the very problems he’s crying out to God about.

I am so excited about the pastors' conference coming up April 23rd through the 25th. You cannot miss it. There's going to be such a great group of teachers teaching, well-trained, well-prepared, practiced what they're teaching in their local church.

Here are some examples: pastor and deacons functioning under the lordship of Christ; the biblical approach to resolving conflict in the church; traits of successful leaders; effective teaching methods for children; social media, how could you make it very positive for your children; developing a counseling ministry dealing with mental health issues in the local church; marketing; moving from traditional ministry to bibliocentric ministry; how do you grow the church through evangelism. You cannot miss this conference April 23rd through the 25th, 2026, at 7350 TC Jester Boulevard right here at Living Word Fellowship Church. I pray you'll go to powerwalkministries.org. Be a part of this. You will not be disappointed.

Log on to powerwalkministries.org. That’s powerwalkministries.org or call us at 281-260-7402. Again, that’s 281-260-7402.

We’d love to hear from you. And if you live in the Houston area or you’re planning a visit, please join Dr. Cannings at Living Word Fellowship Church this Sunday. For church location and service times, visit lwfellowshipchurch.org. And as we leave you, remember to turn to Psalm 86 often. It will strengthen you on the inside by focusing upon who God is, rather than focusing on outside circumstances.