Regaining Lost Ground

Shane Idleman: This is key: obey the spirit promptly. God tells you to do something, do it. Fix that relationship, fix that relationship promptly, not later, not next week, not if they call you. Fix it now, deal with it now, repent now.

Because when that takes place, that obedience brings joy. I obeyed the Lord, I'm so full of joy. That's why many of you are like a refrigerator. You're sitting on an ice cube even though we're singing about the fire of God because you're not obeying the spirit of God and there's no spiritual life when we're quenching and grieving the spirit.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us here at Westside Christian Fellowship, located in Leona Valley, California, one hour north of Los Angeles. Today on Regaining Lost Ground, we hear the final part of the message titled, Five Things That Hinder the Presence of Christ.

Prayer and revival evangelist Leonard Ravenhill once said, "The secret of praying is praying in secret. A sinning man will stop praying and a praying man will stop sinning." Please join us for this most powerful message from Pastor Shane as he encourages us on how we may fully walk in God's spirit today.

For more information, visit us online at westsidechristianfellowship.org. We also encourage you to hear more truth from Pastor Shane with the Idleman Unplugged weekly podcast. And please be sure to follow us on most social media platforms. And now from Westside Christian Fellowship in Leona Valley, California, here's Pastor Shane Idleman.

Shane Idleman: And here is another key: the cost we pay reveals your desperation, your level of desperation. What you're willing to pay is a measure of your desperation. I hate to keep bringing up prayer meetings and things like that, but that is the gauge of spiritual health often. I'm desperate, so I don't care if I can't go to Cinemark because I don't have enough gas, I'd rather go to church. The cost we're willing to pay reveals how desperate we are.

We could embarrass ourselves tonight if I were to bring up statistics, and not even that, but even the life of the underground church in Africa, or when there's Muslim persecution, or in the Middle East, or in China where they're walking to church services with kids for a couple hours going to hear a speaker. They need to hear from God. There's no other hope. There's no Blue Cross, there's no Medi-Cal, 401Ks. They're just barely getting by that day.

No shoes, in the dirt, going to church because they're desperate. They need to hear from God. That's why I believe you'll see genuine healing taking place, eyesight opening, kids being delivered, tumors shrinking. Why? Because there's no other plan, God. This is you and you alone. I can't, I'm so desperate. The cost I'm willing to pay. You know how many people I believe their job is actually hindering their walk with the Lord? Their fullness is actually hindering their walk with the Lord. Too many toys. The more you own, the more owns you.

I'm giving this up because I have to pursue you. Many of us, there are people who have given up careers to get involved in church. There was a cost involved. There's a cost involved to come here every day of the week and come to prayer first and stay for three hours for church and pray with people and pour into people as laundry backs up and responsibilities get thrown to the side and things that I want to do I can't do. Same with you, there's a cost. Why? Because there's desperation. If there's no cost, there's no desperation.

Think about it. I'll come to church if it's at a time I can make it, when it's convenient, if there's gas in the car, as long as it doesn't mess up my Netflix binge, and as long as this sport event isn't happening, whether it's the NBA finals or the World Series or the Super Bowl. If all that still fits, then I'll make it. Am I just not saying the truth? The cost reveals the desperation.

The fifth hindrance to His presence: failure to slow down. This is a little bit different than too busy. Many Christians, especially in America, we've got to slow down because we're too busy to wait on God, too preoccupied to pursue Him, and too wrapped up to worship Him. Too busy to wait, too preoccupied to pursue, and too wrapped up to worship. Is that not hitting home?

He acts for the one who waits for Him. Remember what we talked about earlier? He acts for the one who waits for Him. Waiting also is a great gauge that measures importance. That's why sometimes people say your services are too long. Okay, but you should see the fruit. I'm looking at the fruit. I don't know about you, but I'm looking at the fruit. Because sometimes it takes a little time. I can't push three minutes on a microwave and have my relationship with God restored.

Sometimes that first two worship songs, you're kind of thinking about the day and then now you're singing about His presence and how He breaks every chain. Now God's starting to work in your heart. Now you're starting to see a little bit of how He can change you. Then another song comes on and you see how He is the great and powerful God. Amazing Grace might come on and how sweet the sound that saved a wretch. Now God begins to do heart surgery. And any heart surgeon will tell you the surgery is not over in 15 minutes. They haven't even opened the stitch line yet.

There's a waiting time of pressing in and drawing closer to God. That's what we're trying to foster here and teach our Ignite kids. Don't be in a hurry. You can't rush God. It's often at critical and key moments through times of waiting on Him that He moves. You guys know the story in Acts. After about 20 or 30 minutes the spirit of God fell and then they changed the world. That's right, they had to stay the night there. Waited and waited. I picture myself sometimes. I'd be like, "Oh man guys, five days?"

Personally, I don't think they just stayed in there, locked the door, never came out. Maybe some of them went to work, had to get some food. Bathrooms in the house are kind of a new thing. But there was a waiting. The Bible doesn't give us a lot, but there was a waiting. It could have been like this: when the day was over, when they did their thing, they went and waited in the upper room. They waited in the upper room. They waited in the upper room. In that waiting time, it was not wasted time.

I see so many people, they are so busy. Especially men, you know how we rate success? By how busy we are. I did for many years. Man, that guy's so busy. Now I kind of cringe when people say that. Just say I'm full. I'm really full right now, I'm not too busy. Full of the things of God. But busy doing what? Buying things we can't afford, pursuing things we really don't need, lack of spending time with our family. I'm too busy to pursue God.

And here's why it's so deceptive: it can make you think that you're doing something very effective, Martha. But Mary is the one waiting at His feet. Oh Martha, Martha, you're worried about many things. She's not helping me cook, she's not helping me clean. All good things. Praise God for cooking and cleaning. But she was worried about too many things. Mary has chosen what is best: time and intimacy with me.

Some things have got to go. Some of you tonight need to start getting to bed earlier and seek God early in the morning. Some of you guys need to reprioritize your evening if you're evening people. I can't relate to the evening people, my mind shuts off here in about an hour. Do what works for you, but you've got to prioritize to where Christ is first. Jesus often went to places of solitude to hear from the Father, to connect.

Andrew Murray said, "Once faith has taken its stand on God's word in your heart, in the name of Jesus, and you have yielded yourself to the leading of the spirit to seek only God's will and honor Him in prayer, you need not be discouraged by delay." Anybody here discouraged by delay? I know this room is not being honest. Balcony, you guys are all pretty spiritual. No, we know delay, every one of us. Why isn't such and such coming to the Lord yet? Why isn't this happening? Where's my breakthrough? Where's my healing? Lord, why are you taking me through all this?

But once your faith has taken a stand on God's word and the name of Jesus Christ and you yield to the leading of the spirit, "Lord I just want to seek only your will and I'm going to honor you in prayer and petition you," I'm not going to be discouraged by delay because delay is not denial necessarily. Waiting time is not wasted time. It's actually in that time that was like a crushing that God would begin to crush me. The more I waited, the more I worshiped. The more I worshiped, the more I sought Him. The more I sought Him, the more I loved Him. The more I loved Him, the more I knew Him. It's a process of persevering and pressing in. That God who will never let you down, that God who knows and numbered the very hairs on your head. He's ordered the times and the seasons.

And here's a closing thought: words that sparked the great Welsh Revival that I shared with you earlier. These words, Evan Roberts, they're in a prayer meeting. Nobody was preaching. Don't overlook the prayer meeting, folks. Jesus said my house will be called a house of prayer. Jesus would retreat in prayer. Lord teach us to preach? That would be my question, Lord teach me to preach. They said teach us to pray. Abraham's going to cover that tomorrow. "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, God forgive us of our trespasses, lead me not into the testing, the temptation, God deliver me from evil." Teach us how to pray.

Oh, if that is our cry today, Lord, teach, it's mine. Lord, teach me how to pray. I don't ask Him to teach me how to preach, because if I'm filled with prayer and filled with the spirit, the spirit of God is going to say just like Jeremiah, open your mouth and I will fill you with my spirit. You will pull down and you will root down, you will up-heave the land, you will destroy it and you will build it, you'll encourage it. The spirit of the living God can speak boldly through you when you're yielded to that influence by the power of prayer.

Where all this comes from, where a lot of preaching comes from that moves the heart, it comes directly from the prayer closet as the person sits and asks God, "Lord I empty myself of me, fill me of your spirit." You open the word of God, it comes alive and the principles come out, and the dedication, the obedience, and the repentance. God says, "Here's what I want you, I'm going to fill up your soul above capacity." That's why His word is in my heart like a burning fire. It's shut up in my bones, I can't hold it back. And then it comes out and it begins to devour, it begins to encourage, it begins to uplift, it begins to shape, it begins to revive, it begins to renew, all from the prayer closet.

So the words that sparked the great Welsh Revival: "Oh God, bend me. Oh God, break me." Like Romans 12, I beseech you, Paul's begging, he's basically begging. And I feel like doing this a lot. I would beg those listening, beg you, by the mercies of God. In other words, look how merciful God has been. Look at what He is offering, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Basically he's saying, put your corpse on the altar and let the fire of God come down upon it and let that fire never go out. Keep that fire burning. Keep the presence of Christ burning. Yes, it's a battle. Yes, it's difficult. I might feel great tonight, but tomorrow all hell could break loose. But I know the God I serve and I will be here tomorrow seeking His face regardless of how I feel. I'll get on my knees and I'll call down heaven, I'll pray for my children, pray for my marriage, pray for our nation because I know He is a God who hears and He's attracted to weakness and brokenness.

God, I don't want to preach, I want lives changed. I don't want to fire up the cheerleaders, I want us to come to repentance. And He also in His journal, and this is all biblical, there are four things that preceded the revival. Actually, Evan Roberts, the pastor didn't want him to speak at the church. So he said, "Oh, just go preach to like 17 youth." And the youth caught on fire. The pastor said, "You know what? Maybe you should speak." And the fire from that service lasted the whole year. 25 years old. Actually, he got caught up in some strange doctrines, wore himself out, nervous breakdown, and we didn't hear of Evan Roberts again.

So you have to be careful, you have to steward the anointing. You have to rest, you have to worship. But these things were prominent then and it's prominent now. Anytime God's going to move deeply and profoundly in your life, these things need to take place. Number one: confess any known sin. Right now if God's convicting you tonight that needs confession, needs to take place. Just between you and God if you need to, or between you and someone else. You can't hold on to sin because it's like a cancer.

There's a major sin destroying the church, that being pornography. A major sin destroying the church, that being disunity, bitterness. Reconcile immediately with others. Don't you feel good when you pursue peace? If there are people even tonight, "I forgive you, we need to move forward. I can't hold this in." Confession of any known sin. And then number two: put away any doubtful habit. I love the wording on that because if you're wondering, "Should I give that up?" Well, it's called conviction.

We just answered this question Tuesday at the men's study. This question about alcohol came up, and should I drink, and different things. And I said anytime I answer this over the last couple decades, it's always from someone who's struggling, looking for a loophole. Those who have no issue, they don't remember even when the last time was a six-pack staying in the refrigerator for three months, they don't ask that question.

It's a doubtful habit because what it's doing, it's gnawing on you. The Holy Spirit's convicting. Should I give that up? Is that really God? I don't know. We make excuses. Put away any doubtful habit. Why? Because that conviction is not being responded to. And when you're convicted about something and you don't respond accordingly, you quench and grieve the spirit of God. You can't be revived or experience revival if you're quenching. You're saying, "I want the fire of God," but you're dumping water on it.

How's that working out? "Oh, I want this fire." But I've got five gallons of water. "Oh, what happened? I want this fire." Get rid of any doubtful habit that God is convicting you of. Number three: obey the spirit promptly. Amen? Obey the spirit promptly. Because what happens with delay? Excuses. "You know what? That wasn't God." Shane was getting loud and fired up. I was convicted then, but I'm not convicted anymore. I need that to calm down. I need that.

That person did such and such to me. The longer we delay, the harder it is to often break that habit or to sever it because we give sin a stronghold in our life. Isn't that true? The root of bitterness, we're supposed to pull it out. James also talks about aborting sin right when it's conceived, because as it grows, fully grown, it brings forth death. And so this is key: obey the spirit promptly. God tells you to do something, do it. Do it. Whether it's repentance or confession.

And it's interesting, today at the bank I was pulling some money out because we told you we're going to help some families and different things. And I'm there and this lady behind me, I can tell, I look, "Oh man, I don't know, she maybe she needs some help financially." I said, "Well Lord, I don't know if it's you. I know you, I feel it kind of, I don't know if it's me. Lord, show me. I'll obey, but I need to know if it's you." And then I'm like, "Let her just say something." Like, what are the chances of that, right?

And so the bank teller goes, "Okay Shane, thanks, we'll see you next time." And she goes, "Shane? Pastor Shane? Oh my goodness, I go to your church." I said, "Oh, there you go. That's my cue." And so I gave her some money. She starts crying in the Wells Fargo line. I'm hugging her. And she's like, "I'm here to get money for my sister to help her out. She's in a worse spot than me." I said, "Here's some more. My goodness, you're breaking me down here."

But see, promptly, promptly, fix that relationship, fix that relationship promptly. Not later, not next week, not if they call you. Fix it now, deal with it now, repent now. That's when you get, because when that takes place, that obedience brings joy. I obeyed the Lord, I'm so full of joy. That's why many of you are like a refrigerator. You're sitting on an ice cube even though we're singing about the fire of God because you're not obeying the spirit of God and there's no spiritual life when we're quenching and grieving the spirit.

Spiritual life is a direct reflection of somebody fully surrendered to God. Yes, they still deal with junk, of course, but they deal with it. They confess it, they get rid of it. That's what I always want to do. I always want to pursue unity, and I often do it to a fault sometimes. "Is everything okay?" I ask people. "Are you okay? Is there any issue? Is there any offense?" I want to err on the side of grace and always pursuing that.

And then fourth: confess Christ publicly. Confess Christ publicly. Salvation begins with a desperate prayer to be renewed, to be revived, to be restored, to be refocused. To profess Christ publicly. So many of you, I'm sure if you're Christians, of course you're here tonight, but even outside. I wasn't going to tell that lady I know she was a pastor. If God showed me to help her, I was going to just bring her the gospel.

And not being embarrassed of Jesus, that will always fuel the flames of fire. Not being embarrassed. So maybe when you go out this week, confess Him publicly. You don't have to hold up a sign or anything, but say, "Here's how Jesus changed my life. Can I pray for you?" Be open to what the spirit of God is doing. That's revival. That's renewal. Can you imagine if this entire group would just go out and minister to a few people this week? It would be life-changing.

But the truth is, most people don't talk about Jesus because it's too uncomfortable. I don't want to go there. I just want to get into Kohl's and do my thing. I just want to get into the mall and do my thing. I just want to get here and get, I'm busy, busy, busy. Confess Christ publicly.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Regaining Lost Ground with Pastor Shane Idleman. You can find more information at westsidechristianfellowship.org. That's westsidechristianfellowship.org. And for all the latest on what God is doing with His ministry here, please be sure to follow us on most social media platforms. Westside Christian Fellowship is located 60 miles north of Los Angeles in Leona Valley, California. Thank you again for listening to today's message of Regaining Lost Ground, where we are reminded daily: times change, truth does not.